dditive manufacturing (AM) enables the processing of heterogeneous materials with customised architectures to improve strength-ductility synergy. Herein

layerwise-heterostructured high-strength steels were processed by AM of two steel powders following the designed architectures. The fabricated high-strength steels with hierarchical heterogeneous characteristics at the layer

melt-pool and grain scales

exhibit good strength-ductility combination

reaching a strength of 1.32 GPa together with an elongation of 7.5%. The increased strength attributes to hetero-deformation induced strengthening. In-situ deformation monitoring reveals many unique deformation bands in heterostructure materials

which delays necking and improves ductility. The findings demonstrate a novel potential approach to circumvent material property trade-offs.