Razor blade coating
A razor blade substrate having a substrate that includes a blade edge portion having a profiled geometry which is covered by a strengthening coating deposited on the razor blade substrate at least at the blade edge portion. The strengthening coating covering the blade edge tip, having a profiled geometry and having a tapering geometry with two coating sides converge toward a blade edge tip. The strengthening coating includes a strengthening layer made of a titanium- and boron-containing material.
1. A razor blade comprising:
a blade substrate having a substrate edge portion;
the substrate edge portion having a tapering geometry with two sides converging toward a substrate tip; and
a strengthening coating deposited on at least the blade substrate edge portion, covering the two sides of the substrate tip;
the strengthening coating including a nanocrystalline layer made of a mixture of titanium and boron; the nanocrystalline layer having atoms of nanocrystals arranged in a hexagonal lattice configuration.
2. The razor blade according to claim 1 , wherein the nanocrystalline layer includes areas of non-columnar titanium diboride.
3. The razor blade according to claim 1 , wherein the strengthening coating includes an interlayer between the blade substrate and the strengthening layer.
4. The razor blade according to claim 3 , wherein the interlayer includes titanium nanocrystals having columns with diameters of up to 10-12 nm.
5. The razor blade according to claim 1 , wherein the average proportion of boron and titanium atoms in the strengthening layer is between about 1.3:1 and about 2.3:1.
6. The razor blade according to claim 1 , wherein the strengthening layer is deposited under conditions which, when applied to deposition on a flat witness sample, provide a coating having a density of between about 3.9 grams per cubic centimeter (g/cm3) and about 4.4 grams per cubic centimeter (g/cm3).
7. The razor blade according to claim 1 , wherein a combined thickness of the blade substrate and the strengthening coating, measured between the two coating sides orthogonal to a line bisecting the blade edge portion, at a distance of about 5 micrometers from the coating trip, is between about 1.8 and about 2.5 micrometers.
8. The razor blade according the claim 1 , wherein a combined thickness of the blade substrate and the strengthening coating, measured between the two coating sides orthogonal to a line bisecting the blade edge portion, at a distance of about 20 micrometers from the coating tip, is between about 5.1 and about 7.3 micrometers.
9. The razor blade according to claim 1 , wherein the razor blade substrate is made of stainless steel.
10. The razor blade according to claim 3 , wherein the strengthening coating includes an overcoat layer over the strengthening layer.
11. The razor blade according to claim 10 , wherein the overcoat layer contains metal.
12. The razor blade according to claim 3 , wherein a combined thickness of the strengthening layer and the interlayer does not exceed about 150 nanometers (nm).
13. The razor blade according to claim 3 , wherein a combined thickness of the strengthening layer and the interlayer does not exceed about 500 nanometers (nm).
14. The razor blade according to claim 1 , further comprising a polymer coating over the strengthening coating.
15. The razor blade according to claim 3 , further comprising a polymer coating over the strengthening coating.
16. The razor blade according to claim 10 , further comprising a polymer coating over the overcoat layer.
17. The razor blade according to claim 1 , wherein the strengthening layer disorderly includes areas having different proportions of titanium and boron atoms.
18. The razor blade according to claim 17 , wherein at least one area the proportion of boron and titanium between y:1 and z:1, wherein y and z are between about 1.3 and about 1.99, and y is lower than z.
19. The razor blade according to claim 17 , wherein at least one area the proportion of boron and titanium is between u:1 and v:1, wherein u and v are between about 2.01 and about 2.3 and u is lower than v.
20. The razor blade according to claim 1 , wherein the blade substrate is angular or curved.