Materials processing services mechanically or thermally process metals, thermal ceramics, polymers, glasses and other materials on a contract basis. They provide services such as product formulation, compounding, synthesis, metal processing, powder processing, polymer processing, inspection testing, and process optimization. Materials processing services may serve a specific industry or specialize in a particular application. For example, a material processing service for the aerospace industry may specialize in a service material such as nickel-base and cobalt-base superalloys.