"Mechanisms and Approaches to Improve Oxidation Resistance of Transition Metal Nitrides" 

Yizhi Zhang, MSE PhD Candidate 

Advisor: Professor Haiyan Wang 

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Abstract:

Transition metal nitrides (TMN) have attracted interest from scientists for many years due to their unique optical, electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties. TiN and ZrN have already been used as commercial hardness coating for cutting tools. However, most transition metal nitrides coating will be oxidized and lose their coating function at high temperatures. (e.g. TiN coating is oxidized at as low as 600ºC) This phenomenon not only increased the difficulty to produce high-quality TMN coating but also limited the further applications of transition metal nitrides. To explore further applications, it is necessary to find a suitable way to improve the oxidation resistance of transition metal nitrides. In this review, the oxidation mechanism and previous approaches to improve the oxidation resistance will be discussed, as well as the existence challenge and promising future work.