The Aviation Special Processes Technician requires in-depth knowledge of chemistry, and a keen sense of observation and judgement. They must adhere to the critically important safety principles that apply to their work. They perform complex functions such as heat-treating, anodizing, plasma coating, special coatings and working with composite materials.

Being an Aviation Special Processes Technician requires discipline and precision while treating all types and shapes of aircraft parts. They manufacture and perform maintenance on reinforced plastic products using resins, monomer and polymer, reinforcements, fillers and additives. They operate and service blasting equipment and perform cleaning of aircraft engine parts and equipment.

Aviation Special Processes Technicians usually works in a shop at a workbench, or in a lab, They clean and strip parts made from unusual materials using chemical, electrical, and mechanical means. Once the parts are clean, they employ surface treatments such as conversion coatings, deposition, plating, thermal spray, diffusion coatings, or etching. After that, they toughen the parts using shot, glass, and flap-peening processes. The next steps are heat-treating, stress relief, and furnace brazing. All of these procedures strengthen the parts, ensuring that they will be reliable and able to endure the toughest stresses, ensuring that the aircraft can fly safely for several years. For example, landing gear materials must withstand repeated high-energy pounding and are so internally stressed that they need to be specially coated with high tech, complex paint compounds to guard against hydrogen embrittlement during high altitude flying conditions.