5. Analysis of surface treatment incidents

The improvements brought about by surface treatments and coatings depend to a large extent on their quality. The inspection of coatings and surface treatments is one of the quality assurance actions that take place at the final stage of tool development: it sanctions compliance with a specification and the product's suitability to fulfil a function. As a reminder, the various functions that can be fulfilled, depending on the choice of reinforcement processes used for the tool, are as follows:

• resistance to mechanical or thermomechanical stress cycling;

• friction and wear resistance ;

• impact resistance ;

• resistance to liquid corrosion and gas oxidation.

The characterization methods available are many and varied,...