Patent ID: 8389059

Claim:
A method for surface treating a structural component, comprising: providing a base substrate; forming an amorphous metal layer on the base substrate, wherein the amorphous metal layer comprises an Fe based alloy with at least 8% Cr or an Ni based alloy with at least 8% Cr; applying an energy source of 10 4 W/cm 2 to 10 6 W/cm 2 to the amorphous metal layer to devitrify the amorphous coating layer for at least a portion of the amorphous metal layer and at least a portion of the base substrate to fuse together to form a chemically graded and partially crystallized layer having a thickness of at least 100 microns and a negative hardness gradient profile, with the hardness increasing from a first surface in contact with the base substrate to a second surface opposite to the first surface and away from the base substrate, and for the chemically graded and partially crystallized layer to have a composition that gradiently changes from the second surface to the first surface, and an adhesion bond strength to the base substrate of at least 5000 psi.