Laser surface hardening is a noncontact process that provides a chemically inert and clean environment as well as flexible integration with operating systems. This article provides a brief discussion on the various conventional surface-modification techniques to enhance the surface and mechanical properties of ferrous and nonferrous alloys. The techniques are physical vapor deposition, chemical vapor deposition, sputtering, ion plating, electroplating, electroless plating, and displacement plating. The article describes five categories of laser surface modification, namely, laser surface heat treatment, laser surface melting such as skin melting or glazing, laser direct metal deposition such as cladding, alloying, and hardfacing, laser physical vapor deposition, and laser shock peening. The article provides detailed information on absorptivity, laser scanning technology, and thermokinetic phase transformations. It also describes the influence of cooling rate on laser heat treatment and the effect of processing parameters on temperature, microstructure, and case depth hardness.

This article provides a discussion on various types of glasses: traditional glasses, specialty glasses, and glass ceramics. It provides information on glazes and enamels and reviews the broad classes of ceramic materials. These include whitewares, structural clay products, technical ceramics, refractories, structural ceramics, engineering ceramics, and electronic and magnetic ceramics. General processing variables that can affect structure and compositional homogeneity are discussed. Traditional ceramics that include both oxide and nonoxide ceramics are also reviewed. The article concludes with several examples of engineering ceramics.

This article focuses on the ceramic coatings for ceramic and glass substrates. It describes the role of oxides in glazes and discusses the optical and appearance properties of various types of glazes, such as leadless glazes, lead-containing glazes, opaque glazes, and satin and matte glazes. The article provides information on the classification of pigments and the applications of ceramic coatings for decorations on ceramic and glass surfaces.

Laser beam machining removes, melts, or thermally modifies a material by focusing a coherent beam of monochromatic light on the workpiece. This article describes the principal lasers used in metal processing: neodymium-glass, carbon dioxide, and neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet lasers. It discusses the operating parameters of concern in percussion drilling and trepanning. The process variables in surface treatment and laser cutting, as well as the operating parameters of concern in laser welding are reviewed. The article also explains the various categories of surface treatment: heat treating, cladding, surfacing, glazing, and marking.