Ni-Al intermetallic compounds were prepared with Al powder and Ni powder by SHS（self-propagating high-temperature synthesis）.The thermal explosion curves were mapped

and the reactive process was described.Meanwhile

the mechanism of thermal explosion and the microstructure of products were analyzed

and the boundary conditions as well as the effects of variables on thermal explosion were expounded.The results indicate that the ignition time and temperature of thermal explosion can be declined with increasing heating rate and reducing particle size

in which the ignition temperature of reaction is lower than the eutectic temperature.The thermal explosion of Ni-Al system is induced by solid-solid diffusion reaction

and the reaction product singular NiAl phase of Ni-32Al can be observed.