Process of incorporating a refractory metal oxide in a metal and product resulting therefrom

Claim 1

IN A PROCESS FOR PRODUCING COMPOSITIONS IN WHICH A PARTICULATE REFRACTORY IS DISPERSED IN A METAL THE STEPS COMPRISING (A) DEPOSITING A HYDROUS, OXYGEN-CONTAINING COMPOUND OF A METAL HAVING AN OXIDE WITH A $F AT 27* C. OF FROM 30 TO 105 KCAL./GRAM ATOM OF OXYGEN, TOGETHER WITH SUBSTANTIALLY DESCRETE, SUBMICRON PARTICLES OF A REFRACTORY OXIDE HAVING A MELTING POINT ABOVE 1000*C. AND A $F AT 1000*C. ABOVE 60 KCAL./GRAM ATOM OF OXYGEN, (B) THEREAFTER REDUCING THE HYDROUS, OXYGEN-CONTAINING COMPOUND TO THE CORRESPONDING METAL WHILE MAINTAINING A TEMPERATURE THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE MASS BELOW THE SINTERING TEMPERATURE OF THE METAL THE REDUCTION BEING CONTINUED UNTIL THE OXYGEN CONTENT OF THE MASS, EXCLUSIVE OF OXYGEN IN THE REFRACTORY OXIDE, IS BELOW 2% BY WEIGHT, WHEREBY A POWERED PRODUCT IS OBTAINED, (C) SINTERING THE POWDERED PRODUCT AT A TEMPERATURE BELOW THE MELTING POINT OF THE METAL UNTIL ITS PARTICLE SIZE IS IN THE RANGE OF 1 TO 500 MICRONS, AND (D) MIXING THE SINTERED POWDER WITH UP TO 10 TIMES ITS VOLUME OF A DUCTILE POWDERED METAL.