Originally Posted by
mudboy
I always wondered if I could use Titanium Nitride coating on a frame for both durability and bling.
I wouldn't recommend it. Titanium nitride is very brittle and has no real anodic protection behaviour on steel, nor any of the ductility that plating has - basically any impact damage will eat it or spall it off.
It works on things like casettes because the surface (or deeper into the metal if done properly) is hardened, which means the gradation of hardness from TiN on the surface to core steel is gradual and the brittle hard coating is properly supported by a substrate that doesn't deform easily.
However, bike frame steel, even very high strength stuff like 853, S3 etc is still too soft to properly support a layer of TiN. MoSi2 on the other hand, like one or two manufacturers use is much better suited to protecting steel.
Originally Posted by
mconlonx
I saw a mtn bike like this. Everyone was ooh-ing and ahh-ing about this awesome Ti bike, but turns out it was Ti plating over steel. Still a wicked nice bike and the finish had held up well since the early- mid-90s. Looked more like regular Ti than any of the Ti Nitride coatings I've seen.
Titanium is a nightmare to plate out, but, and here's the best bit - it's anodic to steel, so like zinc or cadmium, it's application will protect the steel underneath even should it be scratched :-)