The application of ion-beam technology to ceramic industrial materials

This paper describes the growing number of ways in which ion-beams are being evaluated and used for the modification and tailoring of ceramic surfaces. It is shown how such energetic particules can be used to overcome the constraints imposed by the refractory nature of ceramic materials, which inhibits equilibrium methods for treating the surface by diffusion or surface reaction processes. A family of ion-beam techniques, several involving sequential or concurrent vacuum coating steps, has been developed and for the reasons described these are likely to have considerable scope for the surface engineering of ceramics. (author)