Book excerpt: The hardest requirements on a material are in general imposed at the surface: it has to be wear resistant for tools and bearings; corrosion resistant for turbine blades; antireflecting for solar cells; and it must combine several of these properties in other applications. `Surface engineering' is the general term that incorporates all the techniques by which a surface modification can be accomplished. These techniques include both the more traditional methods, such as nitriding, boriding and carburizing, and the newer ones, such as ion implantation, laser beam melting and, in particular, coating. This book comprises and compares in a unique way all these techniques of surface engineering. It is a compilation of lectures which were held by renowned scientists and engineers in the frame of the well known `EuroCourses' of the Joint Research Centre of the Commission of the European Communities. The book is principally addressed to material and surface scientists, physicists and chemists, engineers and technicians of industries and institutes where surface engineering problems arise.