Intimate Mixture Research Articles

Importance of Halide Ions in the Stabilization of Hybrid Sn-Based Coatings for Lithium Electrodes.

The properties of hybrid Sn-based artificial solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layers in protecting Li-metal electrodes toward surface instabilities were investigated via a combined experimental and theoretical approach. The performance of coating layers can be coherently explained based on the nature of the coating species. Notably, when starting from a chloride precursor, the hybrid coating layer is formed by an intimate mixture of Li7Sn2 and LiCl: the first ensures a high bulk ionic conductivity, while the second forms an external layer allowing a fast surface diffusion of Li+ to avoid dendrite growth, a low surface tension to guarantee the thermodynamic stability of the protective layer, and a negative underneath plating energy (UPE) to promote lithium plating at the interface between the Li metal and the coating layer. The synergy between the two components and, in particular, the crucial role of LiCl in the promotion of such an underneath plating mechanism are shown to be the key properties to improve the performance of artificial SEI layers.

Soft chemistry synthesis and laser powder bed fusion processing of Fe–Ni alloy based powders: A route for the manufacturing of porous multiphase Fe–Ni alloy parts

Fe–Ni alloy based powders of different stoichiometry and purity were synthesized by thermal decomposition of a co-precipitated oxalic precursor. By modifying the oxygen partial pressure of the gaseous flow, a nearly pure Fe64Ni36 Invar powder and a composite Fe50Ni50-Fe3O4 powder were prepared. The composite particles present an original microstructure consisting of an intimate mixture of Fe50Ni50 and Fe3O4 submicronic grains. The behavior of the composite powder was studied in laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process. Reduction of iron oxide and specific microstructural changes were revealed. Subsequent conventional heat post-treatment allowed to remove the remaining iron oxides and to form porous multiphase Fe–Ni alloy 3D parts. Repeatable heterogeneities of microstructure and composition, at a periodicity corresponding to the thickness of the powder bed used in the LPBF process, constitute the hallmark of the laser treatment carried out on the composite powder.

HapkeCNN: Blind Nonlinear Unmixing for Intimate Mixtures Using Hapke Model and Convolutional Neural Network

This paper proposes a blind nonlinear unmixing technique for intimate mixtures using the Hapke model and convolutional neural networks (HapkeCNN). We use the Hapke model and a fully convolutional encoder-decoder deep network for the nonlinear unmixing. Additionally, we propose a novel loss function that includes three terms; 1) a quadratic term based on the Hapke model, that captures the nonlinearity, 2) the reconstruction error of the reflectances, to ensure the fidelity of the reconstructed reflectance, and 3) a minimum volume total variation term that exploits the geometrical information to estimate the endmembers in the absence of pure pixels in the hyperspectral data. The proposed method is evaluated using two simulated and two real datasets. We compare the results of endmember and abundance estimation with a number of nonlinear, and projection-based linear unmixing techniques. The experimental results confirm that HapkeCNN considerably outperforms the state-of-the-art nonlinear approaches.The proposed method was implemented in Python (3.8) using PyTorch as the platform for the deep network and is available at: https://github.com/BehnoodRasti/HapkeCNN.

Effect of two vs. three year harvest intervals on yields of Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) willow

Five genotypes of Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) willow: ‘Beagle’ ((S. viminalis ‘L810203’ x viminalis ‘L81102’) x ‘Astrid’ x male parent unknown), ‘Olof’ (S. viminalis ‘Bowles Hybrid’) x ((S. schwerinii ‘L79069’) x ((S. viminalis ‘L78195’ x viminalis ‘L78101’) ‘Orm’) ‘Bjorn’). ‘Ashton Stott’ (S.viminalis ‘Bowles Hybrid’) x S.dasyclados ‘Korso’, ‘Tora’ (S. schwerinii ‘L79069’) x ((S. viminalis ‘L78195’ x viminalis ‘L78101’) ‘Orm’), and ‘Torhild’ ((S. schwerinii ‘79,069’) x ((S. viminalis) x S. viminalis ‘L78195’ x viminalis ‘L78101’)) ‘Orm’) ‘Tora’) x ((S.viminalis ‘L78195’ x viminalis ‘L78101’) ‘Orm’) were grown in large mono-plots or within plots of intimate mixtures. Over a seven year period half of the plots were harvested on a two-year harvest cycle (three harvests) and the rest on a three-year harvest cycle (two harvests). At the end of this 7 year trial period there were no significant differences between total dry weights or stool survival, irrespective of harvest interval. With the realisation of the importance of this finding for more regular crop management practices, the experiment was continued for a further six years allowing for a further round of two and three year harvests. Results suggest that there ultimately are yield penalties, although these may be minimised by careful and appropriate clonal selection.

On the sum of random samples with bounded Pareto distribution

Heavy-tailed random samples, as well as their sum or average, are encountered in a number of signal processing applications in radar, communications, finance, and natural sciences. Modeling such data through the Pareto distribution is particularly attractive due to its simple analytical form, but may lead to infinite variance and/or mean, which is not physically plausible: in fact, samples are always bounded in practice, namely because of clipping during the signal acquisition or deliberate censoring or trimming (truncation) at the processing stage. Based on this motivation, the paper derives and analyzes the distribution of the sum of right-censored Pareto Type-II variables, which generalizes the conventional Pareto (Type-I) and Lomax distributions. The distribution of the sum of truncated Pareto is also obtained, and an analytical connection is drawn with the unbounded case. A numerical analysis illustrates the findings, providing insights on several aspects, including the intimate mixture structure of the obtained expressions. An illustrative application to the analysis of real radar data is also provided.

VIS-IR Spectroscopy of Mixtures of Water Ice, Organic Matter, and Opaque Mineral in Support of Small Body Remote Sensing Observations

Visual-to-infrared (VIS-IR) remote sensing observations of different classes of outer solar system objects indicate the presence of water ice and organics. Here, we present laboratory reflectance spectra in the 0.5–4.2 μm spectral range of binary particulate mixtures of water ice, organics analogue (kerite), and an opaque iron sulphide phase (pyrrhotite) to investigate the spectral effects of varying mixing ratios, endmember grain size, and mixing modality. The laboratory spectra are also compared to different implementations of the Hapke reflectance model (Hapke, 2012). We find that minor amounts (≲1 wt%) of kerite (investigated grain sizes of 45–63 μm and <25 μm) can remain undetected when mixed in coarse-grained (67 ± 31 μm) water ice, suggesting that organics similar to meteoritic insoluble organic matter (IOM) might be characterized by larger detectability thresholds. Additionally, our measurements indicate that the VIS absolute reflectance of water ice-containing mixtures is not necessarily monotonically linked to water ice abundance. The latter is better constrained by spectral indicators such as the band depths of water ice VIS-IR diagnostic absorptions and spectral slopes. Simulation of laboratory spectra of intimate mixtures with a semi-empirical formulation of the Hapke model suggests that simplistic assumptions on the endmember grain size distribution and shape may lead to estimated mixing ratios considerably offset from the nominal values. Finally, laboratory spectra of water ice grains with fine-grained pyrrhotite inclusions (intraparticle mixture) have been positively compared with a modified version of the Hapke model from Lucey and Riner (2011).

Mixed zeolite hybrids combining the MFI structure with exfoliated MWW monolayers

Zeolite monolayers in solution, reported recently for the framework MWW, enable unprecedented synthetic capabilities that include preparation of molecularly intimate mixtures of different zeolite topologies. As a demonstration, MWW-MFI hybrid materials were synthesized by two methods: in-situ crystallization of MFI by adding the template and silica to solutions of MWW monolayers obtained from the zeolite MCM-56, and ex-situ by mixing the solutions of MWW layers with MFI crystals. Catalytic activity of the mixtures was similar to undiluted pure MWW despite high content of siliceous MFI, which was inert. This suggests that pure MWW layers do not provide optimal packing and accessibility of active sites and can be more efficiently utilized in combination with other components. The mixture of MCM-56 and MFI crystals was 50% less active. Practical benefits may be possible by combining frameworks with different types of activity in catalysis and sorption applications. The mixtures were characterized by the standard methods: X-ray powder diffraction, TEM and SEM imaging, gas adsorptions and FTIR, which showed properties of both the MWW and MFI features with high acid activity and porosity. • Exfoliated MWW nanosheets in solution were used to prepare mixed zeolite hybrids with MFI. • In-situ synthesis involved crystallization of MFI in the presence of MWW nanosheets. • Ex-situ preparation combined MWW nanosheets with siliceous MFI. • Catalytic activity did not diminish despite 50% dilution of the active phase. • Physical mixture of the MWW-MFI zeolites was 50% less active.

Strategies in Forestry to Combat Global Climate Change

Populations with little genetic variation are more vulnerable to the arrival of new pests or diseases, pollution, changes of climate and habitat destruction or other catastrophic events. Biological diversity is the best tool to counter environmental changes and combat climate change in uncertain future. Spatial isolation, fragmentation, increased in-breeding, low fruit set in disturbed natural forests necessitates more population sizes to generate enough variability through mutation and recombination's. Planting a diverse array of species and seed sources is a hedge in the face of global climate change. The best plantation strategy is to maintain diversity, breed for generalists, and deploy intimate mixtures of seed sources or progeny-tested families. Flowering time and seed maturation in plants could be altered in the scenario of climate change; so, should be understood and taken care off. In the era of climate change, conservation of forest genetic resources and their management is necessary to maintain required biodiversity to combat climate change. Seed banking is also a tool in combating the loss of global plant diversity.

Complex Water-ice Mixtures on NII Nereid: Constraints from NIR Reflectance

Abstract Nereid, Neptune’s third-largest satellite, lies in an irregular orbit and is the only outer satellite in the system (apart from Triton) that can be spectroscopically characterized with the current generation of Earth-based telescopes. We report our results on the spectral characterization of Nereid using its reflectance spectrum from 0.8 to 2.4 μm, providing the first measurements over the range of 0.8–1.4 μm. We detect spectral absorption features of crystalline water ice in close agreement with previous measurements. We show that model fits of simple intimate mixtures including water ice do not provide simultaneous matches to absorption band depths at 1.5 and 2.0 μm when accounting for the spectral continuum. Possible solutions include invoking a more complex continuum, including both crystalline and amorphous water ice, and allowing for submicron-sized grains. We show that mixtures including magnetite and the CM2 chondrite Murchison provide a flexible framework for interpreting spectral variation of bodies with neutral-sloped spectra like that of Nereid. Magnetite in particular provides a good match to the spectral continuum without requiring the presence of tholin-like organics. We note that carbonaceous chondrites and their components may be useful analogs for the non-ice components of outer solar system bodies, consistent with recent findings by Fraser et al. Comparison to spectra of large trans-Neptunian objects and satellites of Uranus show that Nereid’s low albedo, deep water bands, and neutral color is distinct from many other icy objects, but such comparisons are limited by an incomplete understanding of spectral variability among ∼100 km-sized icy bodies.

Origin of hydrogen isotopic variations in chondritic water and organics

Chondrites are rocky fragments of asteroids that formed at different times and heliocentric distances in the early solar system. Most chondrite groups contain water-bearing minerals, attesting that both water-ice and dust were accreted on their parent asteroids. Nonetheless, the hydrogen isotopic composition (D/H) of water in the different chondrite groups remains poorly constrained, due to the intimate mixture of hydrated minerals and organic compounds, the other main H-bearing phase in chondrites. Building on our recent works using in situ secondary ion mass spectrometry analyses, we determined the H isotopic composition of water in a large set of chondritic samples (CI, CM, CO, CR, and C-ungrouped carbonaceous chondrites) and report that water in each group shows a distinct and unique D/H signature. Based on a comparison with literature data on bulk chondrites and their water and organics, our data do not support a preponderant role of parent-body processes in controlling the D/H variations among chondrites. Instead, we propose that the water and organic D/H signatures were mostly shaped by interactions between the protoplanetary disk and the molecular cloud that episodically fed the disk over several million years. Because the preservation of D-rich interstellar water and/or organics in chondritic materials is only possible below their respective sublimation temperatures (160 and 350–450 K), the H isotopic signatures of chondritic materials depend on both the timing and location at which their parent body formed.

Role of Zn and Mg substitutions on the mechanical behaviour of biomimetic hydroxyapatite and insight of the emergence of hydroxyapatite-ZnO nanocomposite

A simple and inexpensive biomimetic method is attempted to produce hydroxyapatite (HAp), Mg-/Zn-doped HAp and HAp-ZnO nanocomposite. An aqueous calcium solution with and without precursors of Mg2+ or Zn2+ and a carbonate containing phosphate solution are prepared at a temperature of 37 °C with pH of 7.4 and mixed in equal volumes to obtain the calcifying solution, which has similar ionic constituents as that of human blood plasma. At a temperature of 37 °C, reactions drive the calcifying solution to supersaturation for the crystallization of carbonated HAp, Mg-/Zn-doped HAp, and HAp-ZnO nanocomposite. The microstructural and morphological analyses reveal that the carbonated HAp can sustain low doping of Mg and Zn substituting at Ca sites, wherein Zn is likely to replace screw axis Ca preferentially. Significant lattice distortion leads to the transformation of nanophase HAp to amorphous calcium phosphate when Mg content in the calcium solution is increased to 40% of (Ca + Mg) solute concentration. The role of Zn is more intriguing – Ca-vacancy mediated substitution is favourable when Zn content is below 15% of (Ca + Zn) solute concentration and subsequent increase leads to the emergence of spherical ZnO nanocrystals coexisting with needle-like HAp nanocrystals. The present work describes a new way of synthesizing HAp-ZnO nanocomposite – a potential candidate for the orthopaedic and the prosthodontic applications. Simply increasing Zn content in the calcium solution and without using additional precursors, reaction pathways lead to the precipitation of HAp-ZnO nanocomposite. Field emission transmission electron microscopy reveals that when Zn/(Ca + Zn) molar ratio in the calcifying solution is set at 40%, the resulting nanocomposite is characterized by 5 nm average diameter needle shaped HAp with 15–30 nm spherical ZnO particles as an intimate mixture of two nanophase systems. The mechanical properties of HAp evaluated using the X-ray elastic constants and the modified Williamson-Hall analyses suggest a clear decreasing trend of the apparent domain size with increasing Mg and Zn incorporations while microstrain, isotropic stress, and uniform deformation energy density of nanophase HAp rise only with increasing Mg substitutions.

Behavior of Different PLA Sandwich Structures Loaded in Three Points Bending

AbstractSandwich structures can be classed as composite materials in that they consist of two or more individual components of differing properties which when combined result in a high‐performance material. In contrast to monolithic composites—which consist of an intimate mixture of fibers (glass, Kevlar, carbon etc.) supported within a continuous matrix (e.g., thermoplastic or thermoset resin)—sandwich structures show a discrete structure in which a core material is bonded to, and faced with, a skin material. The skin material usually shows a high stiffness, whereas the core typically has high compressive and shear strength. The primary advantage of a sandwich composite is very high stiffness‐to‐weight and high bending strength‐to‐weight ratio. The sandwich enhances the flexural rigidity of the structure without adding substantial weight. First of all, the core should possess low density in order to add as little as possible to the total weight of the sandwich construction. In this paper, three different core configurations are been studied: honeycomb, inversed honeycomb and Kagome bonded to aluminum skins. The cores are made from PLA using the FDM (fusion deposition method) procedure, on a 3D printer.

Application of spectral signature to analyze quality of magnesite ore mineral deposits and altered rocks of Salem, India

The developers of remote sensing and an advancement of imaging spectroscopy have provided an opportunity to extract compositional information of mineral mixtures. The geochemistry and mineralogical studies support ethical hold on spectral compositional studies of the ultramafic complex. The Salem ultramafic complex region covered by peridotite, dunite, and magnesite ore and surrounded by country rocks like hornblende biotite gneiss and charnockite. The rock samples include peridotite, dunites, metagabbro, and different kinds of magnesite ore minerals collected from the magnesite mines sections and outcrops exposure of reflectance spectral studies, geochemical analysis, and petrographical studies. Spectral measurements were carried out under 350–2500 nm spectral range from whole rock as well as powdered samples of different grain sizes using ASD Spectroradiometer. In the spectral analysis, the intensity of the carbonate bands assumed as fewer than three spectral ranges at 1900 nm, 2300 nm, and 2450 nm bandwidth and band depth based on absorbing characters and quality. The common absorption bands for dunites are 640 nm, 1050 nm, 1392 nm, 1910 nm, 2325 nm, and 2388 nm. In the shorter wavelength region, OH/Mn3+, OH/Fe2+, Mg-OH vibration and carbonate absorptions indicate the presence of ferric iron, olivine, and pyroxene overlapping spectra. Assessing the proportions of composition of rocks and ore minerals based on the spectral signature is a challenging task due to the minerals that exist in the form of intimate mixtures and variations. A thin section study reveals the presence of the major minerals in the rocks and the characteristics of ore minerals. The XRF geochemistry exposes major oxides and determines correlation of the geochemical elements using cluster and PCA analysis.

Early wheat yield estimation at field-level by photosynthetic pigment unmixing using Landsat 8 image series

This paper presents a novel approach for estimating wheat yields based on estimated abundances of endmembers attributed to photosynthetic pigments, using Landsat 8 images acquired during maximum greenness. Endmembers within the wheat pixels are found using an unmixing algorithm then they are further optimized to maximize the predictive power of the abundances for the yields. Similarity of the endmembers to photosynthetic pigment’s spectral signatures and their predictive power suggests their relevance to the pigments. Although the initial unmixing of the intimate mixture of photosynthetic pigments is linear, interactions of abundances are used in the optimization to handle the non-linearity using bilinear model. Wheat yields are estimated with abundances, their relevant interactions, agrometeorological parameters and vegetation indices using three machine learning algorithms. Harvester records from 142 fields are used as ground truth for performance assessment. The yields are estimated with 82% accuracy (RMSE = 22.51) when Random Forest algorithm is used with important parameters.

Linking Solid Electrolyte Degradation to Charge Carrier Transport in the Thiophosphate‐Based Composite Cathode toward Solid‐State Lithium‐Sulfur Batteries

AbstractSolid‐state lithium‐sulfur batteries (SSLSBs) have the potential to cause a paradigm shift in energy storage. The use of emerging highly‐conductive solid electrolytes enables high energy and power densities. However, the need for an intimate mixture of electrolyte and conductive additives to compensate for the insulating nature of cathode active materials S8 and Li2S induces intense electrolyte degradation. Thus, it is paramount to understand better the electrochemical and transport properties of the cathode composite with extremely high interface density among cathode components. Here, by utilizing a ball‐milled composite of the lithium argyrodite Li6PS5Cl and carbon as a model electrode, the stability, reversibility, and transport in the composite as functions of cathode loading, the volume fraction of conducting phase, temperature, and applied potentials are comprehensively investigated. Comparing the onset potentials of electrolyte degradation and the sharp drop in the effective ionic conductivity of the composite determined through transmission‐line model analysis, successful enhancement of the capacity retention of SSLSBs is demonstrated by balancing between the attainable capacity and effective carrier transport, achieving a high areal capacity of 3.68 mAh cm−2 after 100 cycles at room temperature. The here‐observed analysis is applicable to any solid‐state composite with electrically insulating active materials.

Combustion optimization in gas burners of reverberatory furnaces during the melting of nickel alloys

In recent years, due to climate change environmental sustainability programs have been created that require the search for alternatives to reduce air emissions and reduce fuel consumption. The combustion industry is looking for an effective solution to increase the life cycle of its equipment and improve combustion efficiency without neglecting safety or savings. The efficiency of the medium pressure natural gas burners associated with chemical energy, which is converted into heat, that is, the hotter the gaseous products of combustion, the more efficient the burner. The work analyzes the combustion process and their chemical reactions; combustion products obtained in accordance with various conditions; combustion characteristics and factors that influence; and measurement methods needed to optimize combustion and their equipment. In the metallurgical production of nickel, optimization of the burners is very important due to the high temperature used in the reverberatory furnace. That is, the use of a large excess of air would be unfavorably energetic, and the use of a very low excess would result in small intimate mixtures of air and fuel, followed by the release of unreacted reagents and the formation of toxic gases arising at high temperatures. For this reason, the results of this work are an important source of information. The innovation is to automate the use of non-invasive sensors to control the combustion process. The sensors play a fundamental role in the industry, because the information they provide supports the enhanced use of data in the enterprise, increase productivity, efficiency and safety.

Strumal Carcinoid of the Ovary: A Report of Two Cases

We describe two cases of strumal carcinoid of ovary, which is an extremely rare ovarian germ cell tumor composed of an intimate mixture of thyroid and carcinoid tissues. The first case involved a 63-year-old woman, who presented with a 1-month history of abdominal distension and unintentional weight loss (5 kg). Abdominal and chest computed tomography revealed right ovarian tumor and bilateral pleural effusion. Her thyroid-stimulating hormone level was slightly lower 0.475 μIU/mL (normal range: 0.55 - 4.78 μIU/mL); however, the levels of FT3 and FT4 were normal. Intraoperatively, the right ovary was enlarged (8.0 cm × 7.0 cm), with a smooth surface and intact capsule. Bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy with a total abdominal hysterectomy and an appendectomy was performed. The second case was a 54-year-old woman, in whom pelvic mass was recognized 2 months before. Intraoperatively, the left ovary was dumbbell-shaped (20.0 cm × 9.0 cm × 9.0 cm) and connected to two masses (9.0 cm × 8.0 cm and 8.0 cm × 7.0 cm, respectively). Her thyroid function test was normal (0.70 μIU/mL). Total abdominal hysterectomy, partial omentectomy, and pelvic adhesion lysis were performed. In both patients, intraoperative frozen section suggested strumal carcinoid of the ovary (stage IA). Ovarian strumal carcinoid should be included in a differential diagnosis of adnexal masses. The prognosis is considered good.

HST UV Observations of Asteroid (16) Psyche

Abstract The Main Belt Asteroid (16) Psyche is the target object of the NASA Discovery Mission Psyche. We observed the asteroid at ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths (170–310 nm) using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope during two separate observations. We report that the spectrum is very red in the UV, with a blue upturn shortward of ∼200 nm. We find an absorption feature at 250 nm and a weaker absorption feature at 275 nm that may be attributed to a metal-oxide charge transfer band. We find that the red-sloped, relatively featureless spectrum of (16) Psyche is best matched with the reflectance spectrum of pure iron; however, our intimate mixture models show that small grains of iron may dominate the reflectance spectrum even if iron only comprises up to 10% of the material on the surface. We also stress that there is a limited database of reflectances for planetary surface analogs at UV wavelengths for comparison with the spectrum of (16) Psyche. The mid- and far-UV spectra (<240 nm) are markedly different for each of the four asteroids observed at these wavelengths so far, including ones in the same spectral class, indicating that UV observations of asteroids could be used to better understand differences in the composition and processing of the surfaces of these small bodies.

Ru-Ba synergistic effect in dual functioning materials for cyclic CO2 capture and methanation

Mechanistic aspects involved in cyclic CO2 capture and methanation were analyzed by comparing the catalytic behavior of a Ru-BaO/Al2O3 (intimate mixture) with that of a mechanical mixture of BaO/Al2O3 + Ru/Al2O3. Both combinations showed similar performance in the storage of CO2 and in the thermal stability of adsorbed species: CO2 is strongly adsorbed over the BaO component, and cannot be completely released even at high temperatures. The H2 reactivity of the stored species is strongly enhanced for the intimate mixture, showing increased CH4 formation at lower temperatures thus indicating the synergistic effect between the storage and hydrogenation functions. Dual Function Material (DFM) experiments performed in the presence of O2 and steam during the CO2 capture step showed a decrease in the amounts of adsorbed CO2 and a lower methanation rate. When NOx is also present during the capture step, the adsorption of CO2 is hindered by strongly adsorbed NOx. However, while Ru-BaO/Al2O3 can be fully regenerated by H2, BaO/Al2O3 + Ru/Al2O3 suffers from deactivation due to the buildup of adsorbed NOx. It should be understood that in power plant applications the DFM will be located downstream from SCR and therefore the level of NOx will be in the ppm level. Furthermore, it is completely desorbed as NH3 and N2 upon the addition of H2 and thus will not have a significant impact of overall performance for CO2 capture and conversion.

Colloidal processing and sintering of WC-based ceramics with low Ni content as sintering aid

To soften the extreme sintering conditions of Tungsten Carbide (WC), a 3 wt.% of metallic nickel (Ni) was added to the starting powders. To ensure a fair distribution of the second phase and an intimate mixture of the phases, the colloidal process was adopted. A commercial Ni and a in-house synthesised nanosized nickel were used as sintering aids. Rheological studies allowed a high dispersion of the nickel in the final composite powders. Sintering studies by Hot-Pressing route (HP) proved the great benefices of Ni as a sintering aid, decreasing the maximum temperature necessary to achieve full densification, from 1900 to 1450 °C and dwell times from 20 to 7 min. Among all the materials obtained, the best results in terms of density, microstructure and properties were obtained for WC-nNi, which achieved hardness of 14.8 GPa and toughness comparable to conventional cermets with much higher content of metallic phase.