The results of a study of the structure of submicrocrystalline metals conducted with the help of transmission electron microscopy, MiJssbauer spectroscopy, and calorimetric measurements are presented. The effect of the special features of the microstructure on the amplitude and temperature dependences of the internal friction in submicrocrystalline copper and steel 12Kh 18N I 0T is estimated.In recent years physicists and materials technologists have devoted much attention to new materials with ultrafine grains [1][2][3][4]. Such are nanocrystalline alloys with a mean grain size of about 10 nm and submicrocrystalline (SMC) alloys with a mean grain size of about 100 nm. The great interest in ultrafinegrained alloys is due to the fact that their physical properties differ quite substantially from those of conventional materials with coarser grains. This opens new possibilities in the creation of materials with unique combinations of properties.The internal friction is a very important property of metallic materials and has a theoretical and practical significance [5 -7]. The problem of damping the vibrations of materials has to be solved in industry and in transport. However, the use of traditional methods for manufacturing high-damping materials (correction of the composition of the alloy, use of alloys with magnetomechanical energy dissipation, etc.) diminishes their strength properties [7].We devoted the present study to the structure of SMC metals (Cu, Co, Fe, Ni, Pd) and the internal friction of SMC copper and corrosion-resistant steel 12Kh 18N 10T (_< 0.12% C, 17 -19% Cr, 9 -11% Ni, 0.4 -0.7% Ti, < 2% Mn, _< 0.8% Si).The SMC structure in the studied specimens has been formed by various methods. The metal prelbrms were subjected to an intense plastic deformation by the method of equichannel angular pressing [8] and to torsion under a quasihydrostatic pressure [9,4], and the steel preforms were subjected to all-sided forging. In the treatment by the first two methods the deformation was conducted to a true logarithmic degree e = 4 -7.I lhe results of the xx ork haxc been reported at the international con l'crence "Interaclion of Dcl;.'cts and Inelastic Phenomena in Solid Bodie~,'" that took -, place in Scptember 23 25, 1907, inlula.-Institute of Problem~, of Supcrplaslicitx ol'Metals, t'lh. t,',u>+ia.The SMC structure of the metals was studied by the methods of electron microscopic M~ssbauer and calorimetric analyses.An x-ray diffraction study [4,8,10] with the help of a JEM 2000 EX transmission electron microscope has shown that the intense plastic deformation of the metals (Cu, Co, Fe, Ni, Pd) provides a homogeneous grain structure where the grains (with a mean size d= 0.1 -0.2 !am) have nonequilibrium boundaries (Fig. la ). The nonequilibrium nature of the boundaries is confirmed by the diffusion contrast observed on the electron microscopic images and by the bent extinction contours in the grains that appear in the presence of longrange fields of internal stresses for which the grain boundaries are obviousl...