Early stage detection of β→α transition in Sn by Mössbauer spectroscopy

•β→α transition (tin pest) could completely disintegrate Sn-rich material.•Early stage detection of β→α transition still exhibits substantial difficulties.•Mössbauer spectroscopy is very sensitive method in detection of β→α transition in Sn matrix.•Different values of Mössbauer-Lamb factors for β and α-Sn allow to detect tin pest at the level of 1.8%.

Mössbauer spectroscopy was used for the early stage detection of the β→α transition (tin pest) in Sn matrix. The results were compared with the data from X-ray diffraction and a variance in the sensitivity for both methods has been proven. Mössbauer spectroscopy is more responsive method than XRD to tin pest finding and with possible detection level of even 1.8%. Furthermore, in reference sample, suspected to be pure α-Sn, large content of white tin (β-Sn), even after 6 years of exposure at sub-zero temperature, has been identified. 48% of α-Sn phase but also 52% of non-transferred β-Sn has been still detectable.

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