Densification and grain growth of nanocrystalline NiAl powder during pressureless sintering

Nanocrystalline NiAl powder was prepared by mechanical alloying. The prepared powder was cold compacted and sintered at different temperatures and times. The crystallite size of green and sintered compacts was estimated from X-Ray Diffraction peak profile analysis. Thereafter, the Generalized Parabolic Grain Growth model and Master Sintering Curve concept based on Combined Stage Sintering model were employed to investigate the grain growth and densification behavior of nanocrystalline NiAl powder during sintering, respectively. The results of modeling were in a very good agreement to that of experiment. Finally, by comparing the modeling results the sintering parameters were optimized.