The Fe-Cu pre-alloyed diamond tools drills were fabricated and characterized using microwave hot press sintering (MHPS) and conventional hot press sintering (CHPS). The characteristic of densification, microstructure and mechanical properties of samples were assessed. Compared to the CHPS, the MHPS showed evident advantages, including more uniform element distribution, shorter sintering time, lower sintering temperature and preferable mechanical properties. The influence of different temperature on the mechanical properties has been investigated, revealing that high sintering temperature is benefit for the mechanical properties of samples. Experimental results also indicate that the samples show excellent performance under MHPS. And the pre-alloyed metallic powder could be heated to the designed sintering temperature at a high heating rate (30 degrees C/min). The hardness and relative density were also detected to be 106.5 HRB and 96.2% by MHPS at 860 degrees C. And the rearrangement of solid particles is a determinant factor to impact the relative density and hardness. The possible mechanism was discussed. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.