Hybrid wire and slag-based additive manufacturing

A method of manufacturing a metallic component, comprising:

• forming a layer of a mold wall via a directed energy deposition process, wherein a metal wire feedstock is melted by an electric arc and deposited in a programmed geometry to form a mold cavity;
• filling the mold cavity with molten metal generated by a flux-based welding process, wherein a filler metal and flux is melted to form a bath of molten material consisting of metal and slag, and directed into the mold cavity;
• allowing the molten metal and slag to solidify within the mold cavity to form a portion of the metallic component;
• and
• repeating the steps of forming a layer of the mold wall via the directed energy deposition process and filling the mold cavity via the flux-based welding process in an iterative, interleaved manner to build successive layers of the metallic component, wherein the mold walls are at least partially consumed or displaced due to the filling of the mold cavity with the molten metal.

A hybrid manufacturing method comprising:

• additively forming a plurality of walls on a build plate using a directed energy deposition process to define plurality of mold cavities;
• filling the first and second mold cavities with a multi-material infill by introducing a first molten material into the first mold cavity and introducing a second molten material into the second mold cavity, the first molten material comprising a metal and slag that is different from the second molten material;
• allowing the first molten material and the second molten material to solidify within the first and second mold cavities, respectively;
• and
• additively forming subsequent layers of the plurality of walls via the directed energy deposition process and depositing additional layers of the first molten material and the second molten material within the first and second mold cavities in an iterative manner to build successive layers of a metallic component, wherein the plurality of walls are at least partially consumed or displaced due to the filling of the plurality of the first and second mold cavities with molten slag.