Direct Inkjet Printing of Digitally Designed 2D TiN Patterns

Abstract

TiN is a non-oxidic ceramic widely employed as a hard coating material for cutting tools due to its high thermal and chemical stability. Among all 2D coating techniques, Inkjet printing (IJP) is one of the most promising for the fabrication of layers with customized designs. However, despite its advantages, this process has not been used so far with this material. In this work, we prepared TiN suspensions for their implementation in IJP with a nozzle of 70 µm. A complete study of the ink properties was performed to formulate a suitable ink with a high level of dispersion and to evaluate the jetting during the printing process. Moreover, after a sintering process at 1100◦ C under vacuum, a complete hardness analysis of the coated discs was performed, resulting in values ranging from ~4 to 7 GPa, depending on the grid design.