Dual crack inhibition mechanism of nano-TiC in steel–copper heterostructures formed by laser powder bed fusion

The formation of microcracks at the interface of steel–copper heterostructures is prone to premature failure, which severely limits the application of heterostructure components. Herein, a new approach was proposed by doping nano-TiC in interface forming by laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) to prevent the hot crack nucleation and block the solid-state crack propagation in steel–copper heterostructures . Benefitting from the TiC doping, the tensile strength of laminated steel–copper structures increased from 372 to 526 MPa. The findings of this research present a new approach to inhibit cracking in the fabrication of heterostructure component manufacturing using L-PBF.