Metallic articles formed by reduction of nonmetallic articles and method of producing metallic articles

A process for forming a shaped metallic article, comprising the steps of:

• combining starting materials, the starting materials comprising a nonmetallic metal precursor powder;
• forming the starting materials into a free standing, unsupported shape to produce a nonmetallic article of a certain geometry, wherein the starting materials are formed into a shape by a dry pressing process;
• chemically converting the nonmetallic article to a metallic article with a reducing agent while substantially retaining the geometry of the nonmetallic article;
• and
• sintering the metallic article to form a more dense metallic article while substantially retaining the geometry of the nonmetallic article.

A process for forming a shaped metallic article, comprising the steps of:

• combining starting materials, the starting materials comprising a nonmetallic metal precursor powder;
• forming the starting materials into a free standing, unsupported shape to produce a nonmetallic article of a certain geometry, wherein the nonmetallic metal precursor shape has a geometry chosen from one of multiple open-ended channels, multiple open-ended channels around the circumference of the shape and an interior core that is absent of material, and a honeycomb;
• chemically converting the nonmetallic article to a metallic article with a reducing agent while substantially retaining the geometry of the nonmetallic article;
• and
• sintering the metallic article to form a more dense metallic article while substantially retaining the geometry of the nonmetallic article.