Abstract: Iron-alumina composite foam was prepared through combination of self-propagating hightemperature synthesis (SHS) and spark plasma sintering (SPS) in less than 80 seconds, starting from Al, Fe2O3 and Fe powders. Samples containing 5, 10, 15, 20 weight percent of Al + Fe2O3 and Fe powder as remaining were sintered by SPS apparatus. The microstructure observation and phase identification of the synthesized samples was conducted by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Applying pulsed electric current to the powder led to the formation of Al2O3 by occurrence of a highly exothermic reaction between Al and Fe2O3 according to: 2Al + Fe2O3 = Al2O3 + 2Fe. The released heat by this reaction caused to an abrupt increase in temperature. It was found the time duration for obtaining the maximum temperature, was decreased by increasing the Al + Fe2O3 content. In addition the porosity increased with increasing Fe2O3 + Al content in the starting powder mixture at a constant sintering time. The measured Porosity for samples containing 5, 10, 15, and 20 weight percent of Al + Fe2O3 were 18%, 44%, 52% and 60% respectively.

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