4. Conclusion and outlook

The subject of numerous academic studies, surface treatments using material or energy beams are now better understood, controlled and modeled. Even though the nature of the beams and the processes used to create them may be very different, the results observed are similar for beams of equivalent energy density. In particular, this makes it possible to offer a wider range of treatment solutions for a given effect. However, industrial applications are often limited in volume compared with the huge market represented by surface treatments in general. With the exception of medium-energy particle beam treatments, and in particular shot-blasting and sandblasting, which are very widespread in mechanical engineering, most applications remain confined to niche or very high value-added markets.

The financial investment required (laser source, vacuum chamber, etc.), the necessary...