Grain growth and sintering characteristics of Ni-Cu alloy nanopowders consolidated by the spark plasma sintering method

► Ni-Cu bulk alloys are synthesized via SPS technique using nanopowders. ► The grain growth of Ni-Cu nanopowders during sintering is studied. ► The kinetic grain growth exponent n, and the activation energy, Q, are determined. ► The rules of the tensile strength and density are different. ► The mechanism of the tensile strength is discussed with the reinforce theories.