Author Description

The X-ray Section at the Council for Mineral Technology (Mintek) has a programme that enables all parts of the instrument, such as the collimator, analysing crystal, detector, and filters, to be set automatically. However, this programme does not allow for the collection of intensity measurements for subsequent off-line calculation, or the multi-element analysis of successive batches of different materials. A versatile computer programme has been written in BASIC to carry out these additional operations, especially with regard to the successive analysis of different batches of material. This feature permits more continuous, unattended operation of the instrument.