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The increasing integration of surface engineering into industrial design and manufacturing procedures reflects the emergence over the past two decades of a powerful interdisciplinary force embracing advanced chemical and physical techniques in addition to expertise drawn from metallurgical and materials engineering. There are now numerous methods by which surfaces can be protected from degradation caused by wear, corrosion, oxidation, and fatigue, many derived from advanced technology that has come of age over this period. Spearheading the changes have been those techniques which have a strong reliance on the fourth state of matter-plasma. In parallel with these developments, significant advances have been made in surface characterisation and chemical analysis, notably at present the mechanical properties microprobe.
A Guide to Surface Engineering Terminology, published by The Institute of Materials in association with the International Federation of Heat Treatment and Surface Engineering (IFHT), is designed to cut through the confusion arising from the plethora of terms inevitably generated by such rapid changes and developments. Extensively illustrated with line, halftone, and colour figures, the guide strives to be more than a collection of definitions. The many terms solicited from academic and industrial experts throughout the world, on the initiative of the Terminology Committee of IFHT, have been augmented, expanded to provide more technical detail, and, where appropriate, provided with reference citations and examples of practical applications. A similar initiative by IFHT in the general heat treatment sector some 20 years ago resulted in the publication by the Institute of a Multilingual glossary of heat treatment terminology (Book 317) in 1986, some relevant material from which has been incorporated in the new guide.
