[ Treatment of metal, namely, processing and refinement of metallic objects particularly of tools and components of technical devices and machines as well as their surfaces by methods of hardening techniques carried out in vacuum furnaces, namely, vacuum hardening, vacuum tempering, vacuum hardening and high-temperature tempering, stress-relieved annealing, recrystallisation annealing, normal annealing, soft annealing, homogenising, solution annealing, ageing and precipitation hardening, by methods of hardening techniques carried out in saltbaths, namely, salt bath hardening, neutral hardening, salt bath tempering, saltbath hardening and high-temperature tempering, salt bath nitrocarbursing (Tenifertreating), carburising, case hardening, partial tempering, soft annealing, by methods of hardening techniques carried out in chamber furnaces and air-circulation furnaces, namely, hardening, tempering, hardening and high-temperature tempering, stress-relieved annealing, recrystallisation annealing, normal annealing, soft annealing, ageing, precipitation hardening, cyclic annealing, carburising, case hardening, by methods of hardening techniques in form of laser hardening, laser alloying, laser remelting and melting off, by methods of heat and surface treating carried out in a controlled gas atmosphere, namely, hardening, soft annealing, normal annealing, homogenising, solution annealing, ageing, recrystallisation annealing, stress-relieved annealing, hardening and high-temperature tempering, partial hardening, tempering, nitriding, nitrocarburising, carbonitriding, case hardening, carburising, cyclic annealing, oxidation, by methods of surface technology, namely, plasma nitriding; plasma nitrocarburising, plasma oxidation, steam tempering, ] hard material coating by plasma coating processes such as physical vapour deposition (PVD) processes and plasma-assisted chemical vapour deposition (PA-CVD) processes; treatment of metal, namely, surface treatment particularly using solvents and alkaline cleaning, ultrasonic cleaning with and without degreasing, [ wet and dry lapping, pickling, planishing, ] polishing, [ grinding, ] brushing, stripping of hard material layers, vacuum degassing

[ Materials testing and analyzing, namely, conducting tests to determine physical or chemical characteristics of treated metal objects or of metal objects to be treated,namely, hardness tests, determination of the nitride hardness depth and metallographic determination of the white layer thickness and of the diffusion layer thickness; materials testing and analyzing, namely, analysis of surfaces, namely,determination of layer thicknesses, layer adhesion, layer hardness, layer ductility and surface roughness as well as the layer composition ]