The expansion of deep-sea and deep-earth engineering into increasingly extreme environments places stringent demands on critical drilling components in terms of high-temperature stability, wear and corrosion resistance, and long-term reliability. Metal–ceramic composites are key materials for such components, yet their performance is strongly governed by complex surface and interfacial degradation under extreme conditions. This presentation introduces our recent progress in the surface and interface engineering of metal–ceramic composites for extreme drilling applications. By integrating multiscale theoretical calculations, thermodynamic constraints, and data-driven approaches, we reveal surface and interfacial damage mechanisms associated with structural and phase transformations and develop physics-informed strategies for intelligent materials design. These approaches are further integrated with the development of a robotic marine materials scientist, combining materials databases, AI models, robotic experimentation, and autonomous decision-making into a closed-loop workflow of “AI design–automated synthesis–intelligent characterization–model iteration”. In parallel, MarineMat AI (http://mmai.nimte.ac.cn:5173/) has been launched as an AI research assistant for marine critical materials, initially focusing on wear- and corrosion-resistant metal–ceramic composite systems. Based on this intelligent development platform, new multicomponent metal–ceramic composites have been developed with more than 30% improvement in key mechanical and tribological properties. Their engineering applications in critical drilling components, including bearings and universal shafts, have been demonstrated in major deep-earth and deep-sea drilling projects. The presentation highlights a pathway integrating surface and interface science, AI, and robotic experimentation toward autonomous materials research for extreme-environment engineering.

AI,Surface engineering,Interface engineering,Extreme environment,Drilling