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Formula: TiN
Nitride, osbornite group
Crystal System: Isometric
Specific gravity: 5.25
Hardness: 8½
Colour: Golden yellow
Environments
Igneous environments
Meteorites
Osbornite is a very rare natural nitride, originally formed in star dust and now almost exclusively found in meteorites,
commonly associated with corundum. Synthetic titanium nitride is a very important
high-performance ceramic
(Mindat).
Localities
At the type locality, the Bustee meteorite, Gorakhpur, Basti District, Uttar Pradesh, India, osbornite occurs as inclusions
in oldhamite in an enstatite achondrite
meteorite, associated with
oldhamite and diopside
(HOM, Mindat).
In Russia, from an undefined locality “near the junction of the Azov block with the Donbas” as inclusions in
corundum, in weathered detritus from a pipelike body containing
breccia with an alkalic ultramafic cement.
Associated minerals include corundum, iron,
perovskite and iron silicides
(HOM).
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