What is Titanium nitride? Titanium nitride (TiN; sometimes known as Tinite) is an extremely hard ceramic material, often used as a coating on titanium alloys, steel, carbide, and aluminum components to improve the substrate's surface properties. Applied as a thin coating, TiN is used to harden and protect cutting and sliding surfaces, for decorative purposes (due to its golden appearance), and as a non-toxic exterior for medical implants. In most applications, a coating of fewer than 5 micrometers (0.00020 in) is applied.
Titanium Nitride Characteristics Titanium Nitride has a Vickers hardness of 1800–2100, a modulus of elasticity of 251 GPa, a thermal expansion coefficient of 9.35×10−6 K−1, and a superconducting transition temperature of 5.6 K. Titanium Nitride will oxidize at 800 °C in a normal atmosphere. Titanium Nitride has a brown color and appears gold when applied as a coating. It is chemically stable at 20 °C, according to laboratory tests, but can be slowly attacked by concentrated acid solutions with rising temperatures. Depending on the substrate material and surface finish, Titanium Nitride will have a coefficient of friction ranging from 0.4 to 0.9 against another Titanium Nitride surface (non-lubricated). The typical TiN formation has a crystal structure of NaCl-type with a roughly 1:1 stoichiometry; TiNx compounds with x ranging from 0.6 to 1.2 are, however, thermodynamically stable. TiN becomes superconducting at cryogenic temperatures, with critical temperatures up to 6.0 K for single crystals. Superconductivity in thin-film TiN has been studied extensively, with the superconducting properties strongly varying depending on sample preparation, up to complete suppression of superconductivity at a superconductor-insulator transition. A thin film of TiN was chilled to near absolute zero, converting it into the first known superinsulator, with resistance suddenly increasing by a factor of 100,000.
Titanium nitride Application TiN-coated drill bit Dark gray TiCN coating on a Gerber pocketknife A well-known use for TiN coating is for edge retention and corrosion resistance on machine tooling, such as drill bits and milling cutters, often improving their lifetime by a factor of three or more. Because of TiN's metallic gold color, it is used to coat costume jewelry and automotive trim for decorative purposes. TiN is also widely used as a top-layer coating, usually with nickel (Ni) or chromium (Cr) plated substrates, on consumer plumbing fixtures and door hardware. As a coating, it is used in aerospace and military applications and to protect the sliding surfaces of suspension forks of bicycles and motorcycles as well as the shock shafts of radio-controlled cars. TiN is also used as a protective coating on the moving parts of many rifles and semi-automatic firearms, as it is extremely durable. As well as being durable, it is also extremely smooth, making removing the carbon build-up extremely easy. TiN is non-toxic, meets FDA guidelines, and has seen use in medical devices such as scalpel blades and orthopedic bone saw blades where sharpness and edge retention are important. TiN coatings have also been used in implanted prostheses (especially hip replacement implants) and other medical implants. Though less visible, thin films of TiN are also used in microelectronics, where they serve as a conductive connection between the active device and the metal contacts used to operate the circuit, while acting as a diffusion barrier to block the diffusion of the metal into the silicon. In this context, TiN is classified as a "barrier metal" (electrical resistivity ~ 25 µΩ·cm), even though it is clearly a ceramic from the perspective of chemistry or mechanical behavior. Recent chip design in the 45 nm technology and beyond also makes use of TiN as a "metal" for improved transistor performance. In combination with gate dielectrics (e.g. HfSiO) that have a higher permittivity compared to standard SiO2, the gate length can be scaled down with low leakage, higher drive current, and the same or better threshold voltage. Additionally, TiN thin films are currently under consideration for coating zirconium alloys for accident-tolerant nuclear fuels. Owing to their high biostability, TiN layers may also be used as electrodes in bioelectronic applications like in intelligent implants or in-vivo biosensors that have to withstand the severe corrosion caused by body fluids. TiN electrodes have already been applied in the subretinal prosthesis project as well as in biomedical microelectromechanical systems (BioMEMS).
TRUNNANO (aka. Luoyang Tongrun Nano Technology Co. Ltd.) is a trusted global chemical material supplier & manufacturer with over 12 years’ experience in providing super high-quality chemicals and Nanomaterials. The Titanium Nitride produced by our company has high purity, fine particle size, and impurity content. Please contact us if necessary.
