A new cold spray coating technique for thick Al coating with finely dispersed Al-Ni intermetallic compounds was tested. For easy powder preparation and high yield, rather than using of Al/compound mixture feed stock, the spraying of pure Al and Ni powders mixture followed by post-annealing was suggested. The powder composition of At and Ni was 75:25, and 90:10 (wt.%) to expect full consumption of pure Ni into intermetallic compounds. After Al-Ni composite coatings, the Ni particles were finely dispersed and embedded in the At matrix with a good coating yield. Above 450 degrees C of post-annealing temperature, the Al3Ni and Al3Ni2 phases were observed in the cold-sprayed Al-Ni coatings. The Ni particles in the Al matrix were fully consumed via compounding reaction with Al at 550 degrees C of the annealing temperature. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.