Producing nickel-base, cobalt-base, iron-base, iron-nickel-base, or iron-nickel-cobalt-base alloy articles by reduction of nonmetallic precursor compounds and melting

A method for producing a metallic article comprising a metallic base, comprising the steps of

• furnishing a mixture of at least two nonmetallic precursor compounds together comprising the constituents of the metallic article, wherein the constituents comprise the metallic base selected from the group consisting of nickel, cobalt, iron, iron-nickel, and iron-nickel-cobalt, and mixtures thereof, and at least one alloying element;
• chemically reducing the mixture of nonmetallic precursor compounds to produce an initial metallic particle, without melting the initial metallic particle;
• melting and solidifying the initial metallic particle to produce a cast ingot of the metallic alloy, wherein the step of melting and solidifying produces an alloy that is a nickel-base superalloy, a cobalt-base superalloy, an iron-base superalloy, an iron-nickel-base superalloy, an iron-nickel-cobalt-base superalloy, or a martensitic steel;
• and
• processing the cast ingot to produce the metallic article, wherein the metallic article is a component of a gas turbine engine,
• wherein the step of chemically reducing the mixture of nonmetallic precursor compounds is selected from the group consisting of
• chemically reducing the compound mixture by fused salt electrolysis, chemically reducing the compound mixture by vapor-phase reduction, and chemically reducing the nonmetallic precursor compound by contact with a liquid selected from the group consisting of a liquid alkali metal and a liquid alkaline earth metal.