A comparative study has been made of the structures and magnetic properties of Nd10Fe84B6prepared by mechanical alloying using elemental powders as starting materials and by mechanical milling of the alloy. Both milling procedures resulted in a mixture of &agr;‐Fe and an amorphous phase, with the fraction of &agr;‐Fe phase being significantly higher in the as‐milled mechanically alloyed powder than in the mechanical milled counterpart. Annealed mechanically alloyed powders showed a somewhat coarser and nonuniform grain structure in comparison with annealed mechanically milled powders. The structural differences of mechanically milled and mechanically alloyed powders resulted in higher remanences and coercivities being exhibited by the mechanically milled powders after annealing. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.