Introduction: High-pressure surface science and engineering—a new area of research

High-pressure surface science is a new area of research that covers pressure-induced phase transformations, deformation, amorphization and other physical processes that occur in the contact of two solids. In the majority of mechanical applications of materials, their surface experiences contact with another material and takes the external load before the bulk of the material is influenced. In particular, when a hard indenter touches the surface of another hard material, very high pressures can be achieved under the indenter because the contact area at the beginning of the penetration of the indenter into material is small. Contact loading is one of the most common mechanical impacts that materials experience during processing or application. This type of loading has a very significant non-hydrostatic component of stress that may lead to dramatic changes in the materials structure, such as amorphization and phase transformation Simultaneously, processes of plastic deformation, fracture and interactions with the environment and counterbody can occur.