Patent ID: 7897103

Claim:
A method for making a melted ingot comprising the steps of: preparing at least two rods, wherein for each rod the step of preparing includes the steps of furnishing at least one nonmetallic precursor compound, the at least one nonmetallic precursor compound being capable of forming reduced metallic alloy particles when chemically reduced; thereafter chemically reducing the precursor compound to produce the reduced metallic alloy particles having multiple metallic elements without melting the metallic alloy particles, the metallic alloy particles being Ti-based particles; and thereafter consolidating the reduced metallic alloy particles to form a consolidated rod without melting the consolidated rod; bundling the consolidated rods together to form a bundled rod assembly having an assembly length, the bundled rod assembly being configured for use as a melt electrode; and arranging and disposing the bundled rod assembly into a melt electrode assembly and melting the bundled rod assembly to form an ingot.