The range of processes used for surface treatment of engineering materials is very broad and the results vary in a number of different factors, including the process, means of coating and the substrate surface. If the universe of surface treatments can be classified according to two criteria – one is that the metal produced by the process is equivalent, and the second is that the hardware used to implement the process is linked to – and all treatments Surfactants can be classified into six categories:

Heat treatment –

Heat affects the entire volume of the base material and extend to the surface region. Heat can be conducted either in air or in a room empty.

Case hardening process –

cementation process to produce a hot inner layer of the surface of the substrate by thermal diffusion engine species, such as C, N or B. The curing process can be implemented in a salt bath at atmospheric pressure, the pressure chamber (gas nitriding, carburizing), or a vacuum chamber (ion nitriding, carburizing).

Chromium conversion coating and anodizing processes –

Chrome and anodized conversion coating processes are used to deposit coatings on the substrate surface, rather than inside. They are all chemical processes carried out in an aqueous medium in a tank at atmospheric pressure. A wide range of plating and metal oxides can be deposited.

Plasma Spraying –

The plasma spraying is used to build thick layers on the substrate surface and there is always a distinct interface between the coating and the substrate. The plasma spraying can be done in air at atmospheric pressure or a low-pressure chamber is generally used to deposit metal or oxide layers thick.

PVD (PVD) Coatings –

Physical vapor deposition is used to deposit thin hardcoatings on the surface of the substrate. A limited variety of metal nitride, carbide, carbon monoxide and diamond coatings can be deposited. A vacuum environment is necessary.

Deposition of ion beam enhanced (IBED) Coatings –

Contrary to all conventional treatments, is a physical IBED – as opposed to a chemical or thermal – process. Increasing the temperature during treatment is below 200 degrees Fahrenheit so no heat-induced volumetric changes in material properties, physical dimensions are produced. IBED treatment combines processing benefits of thermal diffusion coating and conventional technologies due to first layer atoms penetrate the substrate to form a coating on the case surface, then move from that case as a thick layer. Kinetically rather than by thermal blankets IBED are “bonded ballistic” on the substrate, forming a metallurgical bond is much stronger than a mechanical or Van der Waals bond. And because the process is kinetically driven IBED solid solubility limits can be overcome, what is the mechanism that allows the filing of a variety of coatings on virtually any substrate.