Fig. 4: Representative deformation substructure of the nTiC-CoCrNi alloy cryogenically (87 K) deformed to total tensile strains of 4%, 18% and 28%, respectively.

a EBSD IPF plus image quality (IQ) map showing the absence of deformation twins (DTs) at 4% strain. b, c BF-STEM images showing dislocation loops around TiC nanoprecipitates. The EDX Ti mapping is shown as inset in (a₃) to indicate the position of TiC precipitates. d BF-STEM image exhibiting dislocation emission from the TiC-matrix interface. e EBSD IPF plus IQ map, f, g BF-STEM and selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) images, and h HR-TEM image showing the formation of DTs at 18% strain. A markedly higher dislocation density within cellular structures is observed in the nTiC-CoCrNi alloy when comparing (g) and Supplementary Fig. 13 (the AM CoCrNi sample) taken under the same g = \(11\bar{1}\) diffraction vector. i EBSD IPF plus IQ map, j, k BF-STEM images along with the SAED image showing the formation of more DTs as well as their interaction with dislocation microbands. A HR-TEM image showing the presence of high number density stacking faults (SFs) is inset in (k). l The evolution of the overall dislocation density as a function of true strain (measured from neutron diffraction data), in comparison to the precipitate-free AM CoCrNi reference sample. The error bars represent standard deviation. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.