A comprehensive survey of the latest advances in surface engineering, particular emphasis being placed on the functionality of protective coatings and the relationships between properties, performance and experimental parameters used for the deposition of films on a variety of substrates. Topics covered include: protection against wear, erosion, corrosion, and friction, plasma assisted physical and chemical vapour deposition processes, low friction coatings operating in a hostile environment, polymer films for protection against mechanical damage and chemical attack, film structure characterization and correlations with mechanical properties, wear and corrosion resistant thermal spray coatings, functional gradient ceramic/metallic coatings produced with high energy laser beams, and energetic deposition processes for high temperature applications, protective coatings for optical systems, and ion beam assisted deposition for protection against aqueous corrosion. Fundamental, scientific, technical and economic aspects of both R&D and applications are dealt with in detail.