Shock consolidation of nanopowdered Ni

Abstract 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 σ τ (to 950–1000 MPa) and insignificant decrease in the hardness H RC (down to 45), without any noticeable change in the grain size. Upsetting of non-annealed samples at 600 °C gave the bending strength σ τ  = 1050–1100 MPa.