Multivariate analysis of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for discrimination between explosives and plastics

A method to distinguish explosives from plastics using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy is discussed. A model for classification with cross-validation theory is built based on the partial least-square discriminant analysis method. Seven types of plastics and one explosive are used as samples to test the model. The experimental results demonstrate that laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy has the capacity to discriminate explosives from plastics combined with chemometrics methods. The results could be useful for prospective research of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy on the differentiation of explosives and other materials.