MECHANOMAKING OF HIGH-SPEED STEEL AISI M2 POWDERS FABRICATION

High speed steel AISI M2 was obtained by high energy milling from the elemental powders. The kinetics of synthesis were followed by Mossbaue r spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. About 14 h are required to compl ete alloying (12 at.% solute content) of the matrix and formation of c arbides (M6C and Fe3C) all having grain sizes below 20 nm. The mean pa rticle size was 50 mu m and the individual particles were almost fully dense. Limited grain growth to < 100 nm at temperatures up to 1300 de grees C was observed. This new concept for the fabrication of alloys a nd materials is suggested to be termed mechanomaking. (C) 1998 Elsevie r Science S.A. All rights reserved.