This paper presents the implementation of the first stage of a study on the synthesis of the intermetallic compound in the Ni-Al system under shock-wave extrusion (SWE). A method was developed and experiments involving SWE of the reactive Ni–Al powder mixture were carried out. As a result, it was possible to obtain up to 56 vol.% of the final product and achieve 100% synthesis of NiAl. The results of metallographic analysis indicate that the process of high-velocity collapse of the tube created conditions for the formation of a cumulative flow, which directly affects the phase formation in NiAl. It was shown that the presence of the central hole in the powder sample reduced the effect of the Mach stem on the homogeneity of the NiAl structure. It was also determined that with a central hole with a 5 mm diameter, the effect of the Mach stem could not be observed at all. The goals of further studies are achieving 90–100 vol.% of the final product and reducing the porosity in the final product. Preliminary experimental studies have shown great potential for SWE to produce composite metal–intermetallic materials.

In this study, SHS was used to produce metal-intermetallic-ceramic laminate AlMg6-NiAl-TiC composite. The experiment conducted without a cylindrical powder pellet holder produced no joint between the NiAl and AlMg6 sheet. On the other hand, the experiment conducted inside a cylindrical powder pellet holder (CPPH) with a blind hole produced a joint. It was found that the AlMg6 sheet had a temperature of 400–550 °C across its entire thickness during SHS. The study of the microstructure and energy-dispersive analysis (EDS) of AlMg6-NiAl-TiC composite showed that it had five layers: (1) ceramic layer of 7-mm-thick TiC; (2) the upper diffusion layer that formed at the interface between NiAl and TiC consisted of TiC + NiAl; (3) an intermetallic layer, which consisted of 13-mm-thick NiAl; (4) the lower diffusion layer, which formed at the interface between NiAl and AlMg6; and (5) a layer of 4-mm-thick aluminum alloy AlMg6. The EDS showed that during the synthesis of NiAl and its interaction with the surface of the AlMg6 sheet, mixing of the components of the initial materials (NiAl, AlMg6) in the joint interface occurs. At the interface of NiAl and AlMg6, the microhardness was 790–870 HV, which indicates the presence of quenching structures in the melted zones.