Method for manufacturing a permanent magnet material from starting components in powder form

In a method for the production of a permanent magnet material with a crystalline structure of a metal-metal-metalloid system comprising mixing at least one powdered metallic starting component together with a powdered starting component containing boron forming a powder mixture and subjecting the mixed starting components to an annealing treatment for forming the permanent magnet material, the improvement comprising:

• subjecting the powder mixture of the starting components to a mechanical alloying milling process thereby forming a mixture powder of the at least one metallic starting component with embedded or absorbed fine particles of the boron component wherein,
• said boron starting component is a member selected from the group consisting of elemental boron, a boron compound, and a boron containing alloy, and said boron starting component has particle sizes less than about 10 um, and wherein,
• said mixture powder is comprised of particles and the said starting components are not resolvable in said mixture powder particles by a light microscope.