Patent ID: 8642916

Claim:
A method of processing a material, the method comprising: introducing a material comprising at least one of a metal and a metallic alloy into a furnace chamber maintained at a low pressure relative to atmospheric pressure, wherein the material comprises at least one electrically conductive material selected from the group consisting of titanium, titanium alloys, tungsten, niobium, tantalum, platinum, palladium, zirconium, iridium, nickel, nickel base alloys, iron, iron base alloys, cobalt, and cobalt base alloys; subjecting the material to a wide-area electron field within the furnace chamber to heat the material to a temperature above a melting temperature of the material, wherein the wide-area electron field is generated by a wire-discharge ion plasma electron emitter; optionally adding at least one alloying additive to the material; and forming a casting or a powder from the material subsequent to or simultaneous with subjecting the material to the wide-area electron field.