ABSTRACT
Processing techniques that allow the surface of a ceramic to be modified play an important role in improving reliability in engineering applications. There are a wide variety of surface modification techniques available and these can generally be divided into three main categories, deposition, chemical modification, and thermomechanical techniques. This chapter discusses those techniques that have been applied to zirconia-toughened ceramics (ZTC) and the effect that the surface modification has on the properties of the ceramic. The emphasis will be on surface modification techniques that influence the mechanical behavior of the ceramic. Contact damage is important for brittle materials in that it can lead to the formation of cracks in the surface of a material. The Surface Modification techniques that have been used to modify the surface of ZTC will be discussed and the initial emphasis will be on those techniques in which the aim is to induce the phase transformation at the surface.
