Reduction Expansion Synthesis of Sintered Metal.

Described herein is a novel method, Reduction Expansion Synthesis-Sintered Metal (RES-SM), to create a sintered metal body of a designed shape at ambient pressure, hundreds of degrees below the metal melting temperature. The precursor to the metal part is a mixture of metal oxide particles and activated metal particles, and in this study specifically nickel oxide and activated nickel metal particles. It is postulated that the metal oxide component is reduced via exposure to chemical radical species produced via thermal decomposition of urea or other organic compounds.