Process of dispersion-hardening of iron-group base metals

Claim 1

IN A PROCESS FOR THE DISPERSION HARDENING OF METALS WHEREIN (1) A POWDER IS PREPARED COMPRISING TWO COMPONENTS SUBSTANTIALLY HOMOGENEOUSLY BLENDED AND MECHANICALLY INSEPARABLE FROM EACH OTHER, THE FIRST OF SAID COMPONENTS CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF A METALLIC MATERIAL SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF (A) IRON, COBALT AND NICKEL; (B) ALLOYS OF (A) METALS WITH EACH OTHER; (C) ALLOYS OF METALS (A) AND ALLOYS (B) WITH UP TO 30% BY WEIGHT OF A METAL OF THE GROUP CONSISTING OF TUNGSTEN AND MOLYBDENUM AND MIXTURES OF THEM; (D) ALLOYS OF METALS (A), ALLOYS (B) AND ALLOYS (C) WITH UP TO 30% OF CHROMIUM; AND (E) ALLOYS OF METALS (A), ALLOYS (B), ALLOYS (C) AND ALLOYS (D) WITH UP TO 16% MANGANESE, THE CONTENT OF IRON PLUS COBALT PLUS NICKEL IN SAID METALLIC MATERIAL BEING AT LEAST 50% BY WEIGHT; AND THE SECOND OF SAID COMPONENTS CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF A REFRACTORY METAL OXIDE HAVING A FREE ENERGY OF FORMATION, MEASURED AT 1000*C. GREATER THAN 98 KCAL. PER GRAM ATOM OF OXYGEN, SAID OXIDE BEING IN THE FORM OF DISCRETE PARTICLES HAVING A MEAN PARTICLE DIAMETER, D, NOT GREATER THAN (0.5K-11) MILLIMICRONS, WHERE K IS THE FREE ENERGY OF FORMATION, IN KCALS. PER GRAM ATOM OF OXYGEN MEASURED AT 27*C., OF THE MOST STABLE OXIDE OF ANY METAL OF SAID FIRST COMPONENT, THE VOLUME LOADING OF SAID REFRACTORY OXIDE IN THE METALLIC COMPONENT BEING UP TO 5.6%, AND 90% OF THE REFRACTORY OXIDE PARTICLES BY VOLUME HAVING A DIAMETER LESS THAN 3D, AND (2) SAID POWDER IS CONSOLIDATED TO A DENSITY AT LEAST 99.5% OF THEORETICAL, THE IMPROVEMENT WHICH COMPRISES EFFECTING SAID CONSOLIDATION AT A TEMPERATURE BELOW ABOUT 1000*C.