This work presents the development of a safer processing route for hard metals. Traditional processing of fine particles under organic solvents presents significant explosion risks. The milling under dichloromethane (DCM) reduces the risks associated with fire hazards. After milling and drying, the samples have been sintered in an industrial sintering furnace under a vacuum at 1380°C. The materials’ characterisation has been done by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, particle size analysis, optical microscopy, and by magnetic measurements. The present work results reveal the powders’ appropriate properties after milling and drying and the desired biphasic (Co-WC) phases obtained after sintering, thus proving the feasibility of such a route, therefore the diminishing of specific fire hazards.

This paper presents a comparative study of the preparation and characterisation of Fe _38.5 Co _38.5 Nb ₇ P ₁₅Cu ₁ alloy produced by mechanical alloying (MA) and rapid quenching (RQ) method. In order to obtain the starting mixture (SS) in the present study, we opted for the replacement of elemental Nb and P powders with ferroalloy powders of niobium and phosphorus. Benzene was used as a control agent of the process (PCA) for wet MA. The samples obtained (powders and ribbons) were characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray microanalysis (EDX), magnetic measurements M(H) and thermomagnetic measurements M(T). After 40 h of wet MA, the alloy was partially amorphous, and the ribbons obtained by RQ do not show an amorphous state. Also, the magnetic measurements show the influence of the method used on the magnetic properties.