After melting the thin surface layer of steels arul pig irons with a localized heat source, the amount of residual austenite in this layer is determined by the degree of dissolution of the carbide phase alul correlated with the max#turin temperature attained at the end of the heating stage. In this work, we have investigated the effect of the amount of residual attstenite in the melted layer on the wear resistance, the contact fatigue, alut the anodic dissolution from some steels and pig irons.