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Laser shock peening and conventional mechanical shot peening are both comparable processes generally applicable to surface treat various metals and alloys. Commercial advantages offered by the laser systems such as flexibility, deep penetration of laser-induced shocks with precise control of the thermal pulses, shorter process times, high speeds, accuracy and aesthetics are attractive in comparison with the mechanical shot peening technique. Laser shock peening in the recent years has proved to be successful with steels, aluminium and titanium surfaces and metallic alloys in general. Nevertheless, minimal research has been conducted on laser shock peening and mechanical shot peening of technical grade ceramics. This article presents an update of the theory and to-date relevant literature within the two subject areas, as well as a comparison and a contrast between the mechanical and laser shock peening techniques. In addition, various gaps in knowledge are identified to propose further research for the development of both the techniques applicable to the surface treatment of technical grade ceramics.

Vickers hardness indentation tests were employed to investigate the near-surface changes in the hardness of a fibre laser-treated and an as-received ZrO 2 engineering ceramic. Indents were created using 5, 20, and 30 kg loads to obtain the hardness. Optical microscopy, white-light interferometry, and a coordinate measuring machine were then used to observe the crack lengths and crack geometry. Palmqvist and half-penny median crack profiles were found, which dictated the selection of the group of equations used herein. Computational and analytical approaches were then adapted to determine the K 1c of ZrO 2 . It was found that the best applicable equation was:1/2 (P/c 3/2 ), which was confirmed to be 42 per cent accurate in producing K 1c values within the range of 8 to 12 MPa m 1/2 for ZrO 2 . Fibre laser surface treatment reduced the surface hardness and produced smaller crack lengths in comparison with the as-received surface. The surface crack lengths, hardness, and indentation loads were found to be important, particularly the crack length, which significantly influenced the end K 1c value when K 1c ¼ 0.016 (E/H) 1/2 (P/c 3/2 ) was used. This is because, the longer the crack lengths, the lower the ceramic's resistance to indentation. This, in turn, increased the end K 1c value. Also, the hardness influences the K 1c , and a softer surface was produced by the fibre laser treatment; this resulted in higher resistance to crack propagation and enhanced the ceramic's K 1c . Increasing the indentation load also varied the end K 1c value, as higher indentation loads resulted in a bigger diamond footprint, and the ceramic exhibited longer crack lengths.

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Surface treatment of a silicon nitride (Si 3 N 4 ) engineering ceramic with fibre laser radiation was conducted to identify changes in the fracture toughness as measured by K 1c . A Vickers macrohardness indentation method was adopted to determine the K 1c of the Si 3 N 4 before and after fibre laser surface treatment. Optical and a scanning electron microscopy (SEM), a co-ordinate measuring machine and a focus variation technique were used to observe and measure the dimensions of the Vickers indentation, the resulting crack lengths, as well as the crack geometry within the as-received