Titanium aluminium nitride (TiAlN) or aluminium titanium nitride (AlTiN for aluminium contents higher 50 at.%) stands for a group of metastable hard coatings consisting of the metallic elements aluminium, titanium and nitrogen. Four important compositions (metal content 100 at.%) are deposited in industrial scale by physical vapor deposition methods:
The fundamental reasons why TiAlN coatings outperform pure TiN coatings are considered to be:
The age hardening phenomena has been shown to originate in a mismatch in the quantum mechanical electronic structure of TiN and AlN.[4]
The coatings are mostly deposited by cathodic arc deposition or magnetron sputtering. Even though most TiAlN and AlTiN coatings are industrially synthesized using alloy targets with specific percentages of aluminium and titanium it is possible to produce TiAlN coatings with pure Al and Ti targets using a cathodic arc deposition technique. TiAlN and AlTiN coatings from pure Al and pure Ti targets by Cathodic arc depositionhave been used industrially by NanoShield PVD Thailand since 1999. By using separate target technology it is possible to offer more flexibility regarding the structure and composition of the coating.
Selected properties of Al66Ti34N are:
One commercial coating type used to improved the wear resistance of tungsten carbide tools is the AlTiN-Saturn from Sulzer Metaplas[5].
The coatings are sometimes doped with at least of one the elements carbon, silicon, boron, oxygen or yttrium in order to improve selected properties for specific applications. These coatings are also used to create multilayer systems. For example they can be used in combination with TiSiXN like those used in the Mpower coating family of Sulzer Metaplas. The coating types mentioned above are applied to protect tools including special tools for medical applications. They are also used as decorative finishes.
One derivative of TiAlN coating technology is the nanocomposite TiAlSiN (titanium aluminium silicon nitride) which was developed by SHM in the Czech Republic and now marketed by Platit of Switzerland. The nanocomposite TiAlSiN coating exhibits superhard hardness and outstanding high temperature workability.