Apparatus for, and methods of, manufacturing a
metal or metallic product. The apparatus (10) includes a furnace (110), a heated delivery vessel (120), a support substrate (230), a moving mechanism (250), and a cooling mechanism (232, 240, 241).
Metal is heated to a
molten state using the furnace (110) and held and maintained in the
molten state by the delivery vessel (120). The delivery vessel (120) has a delivery vessel outlet (130) which is configured to feed the
molten metal in a continuous
stream from the delivery vessel (120) onto the support substrate (230). Relative movement between the delivery vessel outlet (130) and the support substrate (230) is provided by the moving mechanism (250), whereby the
molten metal can be deposited onto the support substrate (230) in a plurality of overlying
layers. The cooling mechanism (232, 240, 241) is operable to provide for the deposited
molten metal to cool so as to solidify and thereby form a
metal product. By providing a continuous
stream of molten
metal, large metal and metallic products can be made while practically overcoming existing limitations to scale and
material selection in additive and deformation manufacturing methods.