The high-intensity pulsed ion beam (HIPIB) technique is developed to treat metallic and ceramic surfaces to improve materials performance. The processing is based on the beam-material interactions: remelting and/or ablation of a top layer on the irradiated surfaces (extreme surface heating effect); subsequently, the molten states may be frozen at an ultra-fast re-solidification rate after termination of the ion beam pulse. Surface smoothing and reconstruction of titanium alloys and ZrO2-Y2O3 coatings have been observed as one of the typical outcome under high-intensity pulsed ion beam irradiation. It is demonstrated that the changes in surface morphology may significantly contribute to the improvements of overall performance of the materials.
