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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing 1989-2025
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Removing TiN (Titanium Nitride) coatings
Q. Is there a way to strip/remove TiN (Titanium Nitride)a part made from Titanium 6AL-4V without damaging the part?
Michael Lanes- Los Angeles, California
October 30, 2024
⇩ Related postings, oldest first ⇩
Q. IF THERE IS SOMEONE OUT THERE THAT HAS HAD EXPERIENCE, I NEED TO STRIP TITANIUM NITRIDE FROM HIGHLY POLISHED TOOL STEEL (H-13 PLASTIC MOLDS) AND I CANNOT FIND REFERENCE IN ANY OF MY TEXT BOOKS ABOUT THIS. DOES ANYONE HAVE A RELIABLE CHEMICAL OR ELECTROCHEMICAL METHOD THAT WILL NOT ATTACK THE SUBSTRATE? WHAT WE HAVE DONE IN THE PAST IS TO ABRADE IT AWAY WITH VERY FINE ABRASIVES, BUT THE GEOMETRY WAS VERY SIMPLE, WHICH IS NOT THE CASE FOR THESE MOLDS.
THANKS IN ADVANCE.
Guillermo MarrufoMonterrey, NL, Mexico
2001
A. We have removed TiN with a warm solution of nitric acid. We have also used glacial hydrogen peroxide. We have better results with the nitric, but we are stripping from noble metals.
Bruce Platt- Columbia, Maryland, USA
!! Readers: note carefully Bruce's mention that his substrates are noble metals (which are resistant to nitric acid); be very careful about putting other substrates into nitric acid (especially steel, which may emit clouds of toxic NOx).
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
Multiple threads merged: please forgive chronology errors and repetition 🙂
Q. Is there any method to remove Titanium Nitride coating without affecting the base material?
Vasudevan Swaminathan
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu, INDIA
2001
by Donald Mattox
on eBay or
AbeBooks
or Amazon
(affil links)
A. Dear Vasudevan:
I posed the same question few months ago and got answers. My substrate was alloy steel and hydrogen peroxide mixed with caustic soda ⇦liquid caustic soda in bulk on Amazon [affil link] worked. You didn't say your base metal, but look into this site. I am sure you also will.
Regards,
Guillermo MarrufoMonterrey, NL, Mexico
A. Stripping of Titanium Nitride. H202 and EDTA, some of one, a slug of the other, and moderate heat. Ti-nitride all gone, base metal Okay.
Jon Quirt- Fridley, Minnesota
Q. Dear sir,
How to reach that formula? Tell me more for a clue.
Best regards.
Prasarn Hutpattanasilp- Samutsakorn, Center, Thailand
Note to Readers: Letter 5007, "Stripping titanium nitride PVD coatings" offers additional perspectives on stripping titanium nitride coatings. But you must always specify the substrate material before anyone can suggest a stripper that will remove a coating without attacking the substrate.
Stripping PVD titanium coatings from stainless steel
Q. My company runs PVD coatings and this new project involves PVD titanium coating over 440 stainless steel. My question is if anyone can tell me the chemicals used to strip this type of coating.
Fidel FloresPVD COATINGS - Tecate, California, USA
2004
A. My memory is not exact, but you are looking to use chemicals that follows. Hydrogen peroxide, sodium pyrophosphate, DI water, and caustic soda ⇦liquid caustic soda in bulk on Amazon [affil link] . This works extremely well if there is any Aluminum in the coatings. If it is straight TiN, use the peroxide, and soda ash to reduce the pH level of the solution.
David Packer- Lansing, Michigan
Multiple threads merged: please forgive chronology errors and repetition 🙂
Q. I am doing PVD coating of TiN on Stainless steel articles and nickel coated brass articles. I want to know how to strip TiN coating from S.S articles and nickel plated brass items. I will highly appreciate your help.
Regards,
plating shop - Rajkot, Gujarat, India
2005
A. Hydrogen peroxide will strip TiN.
Jim Treglio - scwineryreview.com
PVD Consultant & Wine Lover
San Diego, California
A. Yep H202 -- and throw in some EDTA.
Jon Quirt- Minneapolis, Minnesota
Q. I am using Hydrogen Peroxide & caustic soda ⇦liquid caustic soda in bulk on Amazon [affil link] to remove TiN Coating from M50 tool. Having a recent concern with pitting corrosion in the areas were the TiN has been removed. Any possible root causes?
Ron Rhoads- Lason, South Carolina
February 14, 2011
Q. I had some piston rings with a 5 mil titanium nitride coating (which I needed to remove in order to remelt the rings and do a ferrous analysis via an Optical Emission Spectrophotometer).
I tried a solution of hydrogen peroxide and sodium hydroxide as suggested. After 10 minutes of active bubbling, I removed the part from the solution and noted no visual change evident. The same observation was made after another 10 minutes, at which point I threw in some EDTA for good luck. Another 10 minutes ... no difference.
Finally, I let the things sit for 3 hours in the solution. The bubbling has calmed down, and there's still no observable change to the titanium nitride layer.
If the H2O2 method truly works, how long should it take?
- Warren, Michigan, USA
January 13, 2012
Stripping Titanium and Chromium Carbide
Q. Can anyone help me the procedure to strip Ti and Cr carbide coated through PVD route?
Ramasubramanian Sankara Bhatter- Bangalore, India
February 14, 2013
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Ed. note: This thread addresses stripping titanium nitride coatings and is long already; so please see letter 28753 for "Stripping Carbide Coatings".
A. Sir,
A mixture of caustic soda ⇦liquid caustic soda in bulk on
Amazon [affil link]
and hydrogen peroxide solution is suitable for slow stripping, and the most dangerous acid, HF, is for fast stripping of titanium nitride.
pvd technologies - kochi,kerala, India
March 14, 2013
Stripping titanium nitride with H202 and EDTA
Q. Could you please provide the concentrations for mixing them [hydrogen peroxide, caustic, and EDTA], and is there any associated health risks using these chemicals together?
Robert Scott- Huntington Beach, California
August 31, 2015
A. My experience of stripping of TiN/ AlTiN on mold steel/ tool steel/HSS (M2):
1) Hydrogen Peroxide 35% to 38% concentrated
2) Sodium Hydroxide aka caustic soda ⇦liquid caustic soda in bulk on
Amazon [affil link]
(add accordingly between 20g to 30g each time to activate the stripping)
3) EDTA (1/2 teaspoon only to suppress the foaming reaction if bath reaction is overwhelming)
Take parts out every 30 mins rinse in DI water to check for corrosion and pitting.. (which normally it doesn't)
Diacoat Technologies Co., Ltd - Thailand, Pathumthani
March 19, 2019
Q. Is it possible to use a mixture of Oxiclean (a source of Sodium percarbonate) and Sodium Hydroxide with tap water to strip TiN coatings?
Asking about Oxiclean because it would be more convenient than obtaining 30% Hydrogen Peroxide, I think Oxiclean also has about 50% soda ash in it, so have to account for that).
- Fountain colorado
September 28, 2020
RFQ: Hi Mr. Treglio
Hopeful you can point me right. After finding out I could not gold plate 3 vintage watches that my dad had left behind because of titanium nitride coating, I'm trying to see if I can have them stripped of coating so I might gold plate them for my children.
- New york
August 4, 2022
privately respond to this RFQ
Ed. note: As always, gentle readers: technical replies in public and commercial replies in private please (huh? why?)
A. Gene,
It is very difficult to remove titanium nitride coatings. It entails hot hydrogen peroxide, not something you want to do yourself. Best bet is to find a PVD coating services company and have them do it for you.
Jim
Jim Treglio - scwineryreview.com
PVD Consultant & Wine Lover
San Diego, California
August 17, 2022
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Ed. note: Please see also letter 5007 for still more discussion about stripping titanium nitride coatings.
adv.
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