ZrO₂ has been used for hip and knee joint replacements because of the excellent combination of biocompatibility, low density and corrosion resistance. However the low fracture toughness of ZrO₂ ceramic limits its wide application. One of the most obvious tactics to improve the mechanical properties has been to formulate a nanostructured composite materials. Nanopowders of Ni and ZrO₂ were synthesized from NiO and Zr by high energy ball milling. A highly dense nanostructured 2Ni-ZrO₂ composite was consolidated by pulsed current activated sintering within 2 min under 1 GPa pressure. This process allows very quick densification to near theoretical density and prohibits grain growth in nano-structured materials. The grain sizes of Ni and ZrO₂ in the composite were calculated. Finally, the average hardness and fracture toughness values of nanostructured 2Ni-ZrO₂ composite was investigated.