This first-of-its-kind book captures the latest developments in the toughening of hard coatings and in the measurement of the toughness of thin films and coatings. It presents the current status of hard-yet-tough ceramic coatings, reviews various toughness evaluation methods for films and hard coatings, explores the toughness and toughening mechanisms of porous thin films and laser-treated surfaces, examines adhesions of the film/substrate interface and the characterization of coating adhesion strength, and discusses nanoindentation determination of fracture toughness, resistance to cracking, and sliding contact fracture phenomena.

Present Status of Hard-Yet-Tough Ceramic Coatings. Toughness Evaluation of Thin Hard Coatings and Films. Nanoindentation for Fracture Toughness of Coatings. Toughness and Toughening Mechanisms of Porous Thin Films. Toughness of Laser-Treated Surface Layers Obtained by Alloying and Feeding of Ceramic Powders. Interfacial Adhesion of Film/Substrate System Characterized By Nanoindentation. Advanced Hard Coatings with Enhanced Toughness and Resistance to Cracking. Characterization of Coating Adhesion Strength. Sliding-Contact Fracture of Brittle Layers.

Sam Zhang holds a Ph.D in ceramics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, and is a tenured full professor in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Professor Zhang was conferred the title of Honorary Professor of the Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Anhui. He also holds guest professorships at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China and Harbin Institute of Technology, China. Professor Zhang is the founding editor-in-chief of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Letters and principal editor of Journal of Materials Research. He has authored/coauthored 11 books, more than 20 book chapters, and 290+ peer-reviewed international journal articles. In addition, he has guest-edited more than 10 journal volumes. As of April 30, 2015, Professor Zhang's articles have been cited more than 4952 times and his h-index is 39. A popular invited lecturer, he is the founder and chair of the biennial International Conference on Technological Advances of Thin Films & Surface Coatings conference series, the founding president of the Thin Films Society, and was a fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, UK. He was featured in the first ever Who's Who in Engineering Singapore, and in the 26th and 27th editions of Who's Who in the World.