That would be amazing. I'm not sure they can do that, though. From the article: > The team’s idea was to use the layer-by-layer printing process to manipulate

That would be amazing. I'm not sure they can do that, though. From the article: > The team’s idea was to use the layer-by-layer printing process to manipulate the temperatures each layer experienced, alternating softer, more flexible layers with layers hardened by that precipitation process. While printing a cubic chunk of steel, they did this simply by turning the laser off for a couple minutes or so every few layers. The top layer would rapidly cool, converting to the desired crystalline form. Then, as additional layers were added on top, temperatures in the crystalline layer would cycle back up, inducing the precipitation of the nickel-titanium particles. The way they make the hard layers is by turning the laser off for a couple of minutes and letting the freshly-melted metal cool quickly. When you do that, everything that's hot and exposed will harden. Maybe you could use the laser to keep some areas of the metal hot while others harden? Or does the metal conduct too much heat to do that? Maybe you could build some areas up, then cool them slowly to make soft metal, then build up the gaps between those and cool them rapidly to make hard metal?