Shock wave consolidation of powders

Sometimes it is impossible or too difficult to prepare high density bulk materials from hard powder particles using conventional techniques such as hot isostatic pressing or extrusion. By shock wave consolidation it is possible to get pressures high enough to achieve 95 - 100% of the theoretical density for sample obtained. During this dynamic process the voids are filled in few microseconds and hence this technique has some unique features in comparison with the conventional ones. The aim of presented work is to give a common introduction on the shock wave consolidation of powders. The development of theory and practice of shock wave consolidation of powder materials are described. The number of articles about shock wave powder compaction can be counted to several hundreds and in the first half of references one can find only major or fundamental works by authors' knowledge and opinion. Paragraph 12 of this report is about more narrow part of this item - shock wave compaction of Fe-based amorphous alloys, paragraph 13 is about magnetic properties of some samples received from amorphous powders.