Ground surface comprising a substrate (110) having a Young's modulus of between 100 and 1000 GPa, and in which the ground surface has, on a working surface (120), a Vickers hardness of between 1300 and 10 000 kgf/mm.sup.2, and/or a surface coating forming the working surface, in which the surface coating contains amorphous carbon and/or titanium nitride and/or chromium nitride and/or tungsten carbide.

A method for improving the hydrophobic properties of a fiber cement product, said method comprising the steps of: providing a fiber cement product comprising at least one profiled surface; applying a hydrophobation agent to the at least one profiled surface; wherein the obtained fiber cement product has a water take up of less than 1.5 mL after 48 hours as measured by the RILEM Test No 11.4 in horizontal application.

A method for making an article comprising silicon carbide. The method includes producing an article including silicon carbide via additive manufacturing. The method further includes heating via at least one laser beam in a site-selective and locally limited manner a surface of the article so as to cause at least one of ablation and chemical modification of the surface.

A method for improving the hydrophobic properties of a fiber cement product, is provided. The method comprises the steps of providing a fiber cement product comprising at least one profiled surface, applying a water-free silane-based liquid to the at least one profiled surface, and allowing said water-free silane-based liquid to penetrate into the fiber cement product.

Ground surface comprising a substrate (110) having a Young's modulus of between 100 and 1000 GPa, and in which the ground surface has, on a working surface (120), a Vickers hardness of between 1300 and 10 000 kgf/mm.sup.2, and/or a surface coating forming the working surface, in which the surface coating contains amorphous carbon and/or titanium nitride and/or chromium nitride and/or tungsten carbide.

A method for improving the hydrophobic properties of a fiber cement product, said method comprising the steps of: providing a fiber cement product comprising at least one profiled surface; applying a hydrophobation agent to the at least one profiled surface; wherein the obtained fiber cement product has a water take up of less than 1.5 mL after 48 hours as measured by the RILEM Test No 11.4 in horizontal application.