MANUFACTURE OF ALLOY POWDER CONTAINING RARE EARTH METAL

PURPOSE:To obtain powder having good corrosion resistance while maintaining high collapsibility to bulky reaction generating material at the time of executing wet-treatment by incorporating KBr or CaBr2 in a mixed material subjected to heating in reduction diffusion method. CONSTITUTION:After heating the mixed material of rare earth oxide powder and the other metal powder and one or more kinds of alkali metal, alkali earth metal and hidride thereof under inert gas atmosphere or under vacuum, the reaction generating mixed material is treated under wetting condition. In this method, in this mixed material subjected to the heating, further KBr or CaBr2 is incorporated. It is considered that these salts lower the starting temp. of melting to the temp. lower than that of the conventional alkali (earth) metal chloride and bulking acceleration of the reaction generating material with over raising of the temp. is suppressed with these salts as absorbing agent of heat generated with heating reduction. Further, by containing no alkali (earth) metal chloride, chloride content in the alloy powder is lowered and good corrosion resistance is obtd.