Applications and Contributions of Physics to the Surface Treatment Process of Materials. Part II: Other Treatments

Abstract

In this second part another group of processes of surface treatment of materials in which has been employed a series of principles of the Physics are reviewed. Using technologies that employ these principles it is possible to modify the surface of materials in order to obtain improvements in their behavior, specially in regard to increasing their corrosion, wear or fatigue resistance. In particular, this work describes the processes of flame and induction hardening, surface treatments using laser beam, treatments that use concentrated solar energy and finally the processes of physical vapor deposition. All of them of industrial application, with the exception of the use of concentrated solar energy which, however, has an important potential due to the current situation of the renewable energies.