Part marking method applicable to industrial parts

A method of identification marking for a part comprising a material, said method comprising:

• altering at least one property of the material at a plurality of selected areas on the surface of the part to form a coherent pattern of material property alterations on a data track, wherein an identification marking for the part comprises the coherent pattern of material property alterations;
• and
• forming a coherent pattern of reference material property alterations on a reference track, the reference track providing a calibration to aid in detection of the coherent pattern of material property alterations on the data track,
• wherein said alteration comprises ion implanting the selected areas on the surface of the part to form the coherent pattern of material property alterations on the data track.

A method of identification marking for a part comprising a material, said method comprising:

• altering at least one property of the material at a plurality of selected areas on the surface of the part to form a coherent pattern of material property alterations on a data track, wherein an identification marking for the part comprises the coherent pattern of material property alterations;
• and
• forming a coherent pattern of reference material property alterations on a reference track, the reference track providing a calibration to aid in detection of the coherent pattern of material property alterations on the data track,
• wherein said alteration comprises polarizing the material within the selected areas on the surface of the part to form the coherent pattern of material property alterations on the data track.

A method of identifying a part comprising a material, said method comprising:

• detecting at least one coherent pattern comprising a plurality of surface alterations of the material, each of the surface alterations comprising an area on the surface of the part having at least one property of the material therein being altered;
• and
• interpreting the coherent pattern of surface alterations as a marking, wherein:
• each of the surface alterations is formed by laser shock peening the respective area on the surface of the part;
• and
• said detecting comprises measuring at least one ultrasonic reflection from the coherent pattern of surface alterations of the material.