Abstract
Spark plasma sintering (SPS) has been widely regarded as an advanced powder consolidation
technique which helps in the development of array of engineering materials. Many have been reported in
the literature about sintering parameters such as temperature, pressure, heating rate and holding time.
However, little or no reports has been made on some of the intricate features such as process time(s),
power SPS (KW), pressing speed (mm/min), and average pressing force (KN) on which sintering
parameters are directly related to. This study aims to investigate the behaviour of spark plasma sintered
Ni-17Cr binary alloys with emphasis on the densification, hardness value and spark plasma sintering
features such as process time (s), power SPS (KW), pressing speed (mm/min), and the average pressing
force (KN). Nickel and chromium powders were milled individually using High energy ball milling for
durations of 5hr, 10 hr prior to mixing and subsequent sintering. The sintered 5 hr and 10 hr milled Ni-17Cr
binary alloys attained relative densities of 98.72 % and 99.1 % respectively. The Microstructural
morphology was examined using Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The sintered 10 hr milled Ni-17Cr
binary alloy revealed the higher hardness.