The mechanical alloying effect has been studied on the three Cu-based alloy systems with a positive heat of mixing. The extended bcc solid solution has been formed in the Cu-V system and an amorphous phase in the Cu-Ta system. However, it is round that a mixture of nanocrystalline Cu and Mo Is formed in the Cu-Mo system. The neutron diffraction has been employed at a main tool to characterize the detailed amorphization process. The formation of an amorphous phase in Cu-Ta system can be understood by assuming that the smaller Cu atoms preferentially enter into the bcc Ta lattice during ball milling.

The feasibility of obtaining highly dispersed aluminum oxide powders by the electrical explosion of aluminum conductors in an inert gas atmosphere and the subsequent oxidation of aluminum particles by water prior to their contact with air is demonstrated. For a specific surface area of the initial aluminum powder of 6.5/g, the corresponding specific surface area of the resultant aluminum oxide nanopowder was as large as 300/g.

Phase contents and elemental composition of ultradispersed powders obtained by the electrical explosion of tin-leadalloy powders are investigated. It is demonstrated that during the explosion and subsequent cooling, surface layers of powder particles are enriched in lead compared to the initial alloy. The thermal stability of powders oxidizing in air is also investigated.

In the present work some properties of nanopowders and possible areas of their applications are discussed. Main attention is paid to the use of nanodispersed powders (NDP) in new materials production technologies.

Mechanically driven decomposition of intermetallics during mechanical milling(MM 1 was investigated. This process for Fe-Ce and Fe-Sn system was studied using conventional XRD, DSC, magnetization and alternative current susceptibility measurements. Mechanical alloying and milling form products of the following composition (in sequence of increasing Gecontent): () bcc solid solution, +-phase (), -phase, +FeGe(B20), FeGE(B20), FeGe(B20)+,,+Ge, Ge. Incongruently melting intermetallics and decompose under milling. produces mixture of -phase and FeGe(B20), produces mixture of FeGe(B20) and phases. These facts are in good agreement with the model that implies local melting as a mechanism of new phase for-mation during medchanical alloying. Stability of FeGe(B20) phase, which is also incongruently melting compound, is explained as a result of highest density of this phase in Fe-Ge system. Under mechanical milling (MM) in planetary ball mill, FeSn intermetallic decomposes with formation and phases, which have the biggest density among the phases of Fe-Sn system. If decomposition degree of FeSn is relatively small(<60%), milled powder shows superparamagnetic behavior at room temperature. For this case, magnetization curves can be fitted by superposition of two Langevin functions. particle sizes for ferromagnetic phase determined from fitting parameters are in good agreement with crystalline sizes determined from XRD data and remiain approximately chageless during MM. The decomposition of FeSn is attributed to the effects of local temperature and local pressure produced by ball collisions.