A simple Mössbauer ferritometer

Modified back-scatter Mössbauer spectroscopy has been used for the quantitative measurement of the ratio of ferrite to austenite in stainless steels in a rapid, non-destructive, inexpensive and reproducible manner. By using only zero and infinite velocities, it has been possible to remove the need for the multichannel analyser, sophisticated drive, strong source, large counting times and computer, all of which are normally required for Mössbauer spectroscopy. Some important design aspects of a portable ferritometer are discussed.