Mechanical alloying - A novel method for synthesis and processing of materials

High energy ball milling (mechanical alloying) has recently become a popula r research topic. As the non-equilibrium processing method, this technique may be used for the synthesis of many materials, including metastable ones. In many cases these materials exhibit the structure and properties quite d ifferent from materials prepared by conventional methods. In this paper som e examples of metastable structures synthesized by mechanical alloying are described. The results of mechanical alloying in the Fe-Al system are prese nted as well.