Fig. 2: The as-printed microstructure of the nTiC-CoCrNi and μTiC-CoCrNi samples.

a Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) inverse pole figure (IPF) perpendicular to the building direction, showing the grain morphology and size of the nTiC-CoCrNi sample. b Bright-field (BF) scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) image taken within one grain under the g =\(11\bar{1}\) diffraction vector, showing cellular structures with an average size of ~529±116 nm. c TEM-EDX maps of Co, Cr, Ni, and Ti, taken from the same area as b, showing the segregation of Cr and the formation of Ti-rich nanoprecipitates along with the cellular boundaries. d High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) image of a nanoprecipitate embedded in the matrix and fast Fourier transform (FFT) pattern taken from the [110] zone axis, showing the orientation relationship of\(\,(\bar{2}00)\)TiC //\(\,(\bar{1}1\bar{1})\) matrix and [110]TiC // [110] matrix. e Magnified interface region taken from the rectangular frame in (d), showing the coherent nature of the TiC-matrix interface. The measurement results of the interplane spacing of the TiC nanoprecipitate and the matrix are displayed in Supplementary Fig. 5. f Atom probe tomography (APT) concentration profile across the precipitate. The reconstructed atomic maps of Ti, C, and Cr are also inset, indicating the position of the nanoprecipitate. g SE image of the μTiC-CoCrNi sample, showing the presence of undissolved TiC particles. h The simulated residual particle diameter after the single-track L-PBF process using different TiC particle size. Detailed simulation methods are shown in Supplementary Fig. 8. i HR-TEM image showing the incoherent nature between undissolved TiC and the FCC matrix. The insert is a TEM overview image taken from the focused ion beam (FIB) slice marked in (g), containing the matrix and a micron-sized TiC particle. The error bars represent standard deviation. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.