Abstract: In a method for manufacturing metallic components by means of generative production, a layer of metal powder is selectively melted or sintered by being exposed to an energy beam in an evacuated radiation chamber. When the radiation chamber is subsequently flooded with a cooling gas, the melted or sintered part solidifies to form a solid contour. Instead of the previously common practice of using helium, which is expensive and not readily available, as the cooling gas, it is proposed according to the invention to use a gas that contains hydrogen. Hydrogen has a higher thermal conductivity than helium and does not impair the surface of the workpiece, or only to a negligible extent.