Phenol resin sphere particles covered with nickel-phosphorus alloy were used for fabricating a metallic cellular solid with a fine structure by using the pulse current hot pressing (PCHP), which is also called spark-plasma-sintering (SPS) technique. During the sintering process, strong electric current pulses were applied on the particles in a die. The particles in the die were sintered in a shorter time and at lower temperature than that of normal sintering methods. The polymer materials inside the cells seem to remain partly after the sintering process. The mechanical properties of the cellular materials containing phenol resins were measured. The influence of the PCHP process on the mechanical properties of the specimens was examined. (C) 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers.