Shock consolidation of nanopowdered Ni

We investigated the effect of shock compression followed by thermal treatment on the mechanical properties of resultant massive nano-grained nickel. Shock-assisted compaction (P > 3 GPa, largely shear deformation) of Ni powder (dislocation-free spherical particles with d ¯ = 56   nm ) was found to produce the theoretical density in the resultant bulk Ni. Isothermal annealing of shock-compacted samples (at 600 °C for 15 min) led to some increase in the bending strength στ (to 950–1000 MPa) and insignificant decrease in the hardness HRC (down to 45), without any noticeable change in the grain size. Upsetting of non-annealed samples at 600 °C gave the bending strength στ = 1050–1100 MPa.