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Titanium nitride razor foil
An example of the element Titanium

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Titanium nitride razor foil.
This is the foil covering from a common electric shaver. Normally it would be curved around a series of blades that vibrate back and forth across it. You are looking here at the inside of the foil, the part that would be in contact with the blades. The gold color is a good indication that the surface has been coated with titanium nitride, a very hard material often used to coat cutting tools due to its abrasion resistance.

This particular foil is from a brand of razor that prominently displays the word TITANIUM on its packaging, in shiny metallic letters. I've been told (by an executive at a rival razor company) that they used to use the word titanium on the packaging without actually bothering to include any titanium nitride, or any other titanium, in the product itself. Based on this sample they are now using real titanium nitride, though it's still somewhat misleading in my opinion to promote the thing so strongly as a TITANIUM razor when in fact the coating is only a minor factor in its performance.

But at least there is real titanium in the product, unlike with many I investigated in my Popular Science column on fake titanium products.

Source: Walmart
Contributor: Theodore Gray
Acquired: 14 June, 2008
Text Updated: 14 June, 2008
Price: $30
Size: 2"
Purity: <1%
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