A method and an apparatus for manufacturing a metallic article involve providing a non-metallic feedstock, for example in the form of an oxide of a desired metal or a mixture of oxides of the components of a desired metal alloy. A manufacturing apparatus has a reduction apparatus for electrochemically reducing the feedstock to a metallic product and a processor for converting the metallic product to a metallic powder. The powder is fed into an additive-manufacturing apparatus for fabricating the metallic article from the metallic powder. At least the reduction apparatus and the processor, and preferably also the additive-manufacturing apparatus, are collocated, or located in the same container, or in the same building, or on the same site.

The method includes providing a powder that has heterogeneous particles with a ratio, by weight, of an amount of nickel to an amount of a metal. The ratio is selected in accordance with a compositional ratio that can substantially bear a nickel intermetallic precipitate of the nickel and the metal. The heterogeneous particles are then consolidated and thermally treated to interdiffuse the nickel and the metal. The interdiffused nickel and metal are then precipitation treated to precipitate the nickel intermetallic.

One exemplary embodiment of this disclosure relates to a gas turbine engine, including a component having a first portion formed using one of a casting and a forging process, and a second portion formed using an additive manufacturing process.

Processes are provided for producing a titanium alloy material, such as TiAl alloys. In one embodiment, the process includes: heating an input mixture to a preheat temperature with the input mixture including aluminum, optionally, AlCl.sub.3, and, optionally ally, one or more alloying element halide; introducing TiCl.sub.4 to the input mixture at the first reaction temperature such that substantially all of the Ti.sup.4+ in the TiCl.sub.4 is reduced to Ti.sup.3+; thereafter, heating to a second reaction temperature such that substantially all of the Ti.sup.3+ is reduced to Ti.sup.2+ to form an intermediate mixture (e.g., a Ti.sup.2+ salt); and introducing the intermediate mixture into a reaction chamber at a disproportionation temperature reaction to form the titanium alloy material from the Ti.sup.2+ via a disproportionation reaction.

Methods for manufacturing an article include providing a three-dimensional computer model of the article and providing a metal alloy in powdered form. The metal alloy is a titanium aluminide alloy. The powdered form includes a grain size range of about 5 to about 20 microns and a d50 grain size average of about 10 to about 14 microns. The methods further include, at a binder jet printing apparatus, supplying the metal alloy and loading the three-dimensional model, and, using the binder jet printing apparatus, manufacturing the article in accordance with the loaded three-dimensional model in a layer-by-layer manner with the supplied metal alloy. A liquid binder is applied at each layer, and each layer has a thickness of about 10 to about 150 microns. The methods avoid remelting of the metal alloy and avoid metal alloy cooling rates of greater than about 100 F. per minute.

A method of making a densified sintered titanium article includes forming a powder bed of a titanium feedstock. A binder is applied to a portion of the powder bed to bind the titanium feedstock together, thereby forming a green body. The green body is debinded to remove at least a portion of the binder to form a debinded titanium article. The debinded titanium article is sintered at a sintering temperature in an atmosphere comprising hydrogen to produce a sintered titanium article. The sintered titanium article is held at a phase transition temperature to form a microstructure-controlled titanium article. The microstructure-controlled titanium article is dehydrogenated to form a densified sintered titanium article.

A method of modifying the physical characteristics of a base titanium alloy article previously manufactured through a selective melting process is disclosed. The method includes introducing hydrogen through a thermohydrogen process to the base titanium alloy article, the resulting titanium alloy article exhibiting an isotropic and fine grained equiaxed microstructure. The thermohydrogen process may include introducing hydrogen into the base titanium alloy article to lower the beta transus temperature, heating the base titanium article above the lowered beta transus temperature to form hydrided beta, lowering the temperature of the base titanium alloy article to affect a eutectoid transformation, and dehydriding the base titanium alloy article via vacuum heating. The base titanium alloy article may have an elevated oxygen content and/or hydrogen may be introduced at 0.4 weight percent or greater.

Provided are a jet device and systems and methods using the jet device for manufacturing objects by additive manufacturing, especially titanium and titanium alloy objects, wherein the jet device directs a cooling gas across a liquid molten pool, or to impinge on the liquid molten pool, or to impinge upon a solidified material adjacent to a liquid-solid boundary of the liquid molten pool, or to impinge on an as-solidified material, or any combination thereof, during the additive manufacturing process. The application of the cooling gas can result in an additively manufactured metal product having refined grain structure with a high proportion of the grains being approximately equiaxed, and can yield an additively manufactured product exhibiting improvements in strength, fatigue resistance, and durability.

Preform and manufacturing process producing heterogeneous components with a first fraction (11) made from a first metallic material and having a cellular structure with stochastic or regular cells, and a second fraction (12) made from a second metallic material different from the first metallic material, in which the second fraction (12) at least partly infiltrates the cells of the first fraction (11). The second fraction is poured into the preform which also acts as a mould. The finished product after machining may have a unified surface of the second fraction or several zones exposing the second fraction, the first fraction, the cellular structure which is open or infiltrated with the second metallic fraction, or open zones, in a predetermined design.

The titanium-based porous body according to the present invention is in a form of a sheet and contains titanium, and the titanium-based porous body has a thickness of 0.8 mm or less, a porosity of 30% to 65%, a maximum height Rz1 of one sheet surface of 30 ?m or less, a ratio of a maximum height Rz2 of other sheet surface to the maximum height Rz1 of the one sheet surface (Rz2/Rz1) of 1.2 or more, and a compression deformation rate of 19% or less.