Abstract
To reduce the heat released during intermetallic reaction, Ni-50at%Al powder compact has been previously annealed at several conditions before the reaction. The effects of the pre-annealing conditions on the reaction synthesis process have been investigated. Experimental results show that the heat released during the reaction synthesis decreased proportionally with increase of the pre-annealing temperature and duration time. The reaction duration period was significantly increased when the intermetallics were formed in the powder compact during the pre-annealing. This was attributed to the fact that the reaction occurred by solid-state diffusion between the un-reacted elemental atoms and that the $NiAl_3$ phase formed predominantly during pre-annealing.