Stainless steels used in ice sliding applications, such as in the blades of ice skates, ski edges and runners of bobsleigh’s have notoriously poor tribological properties. During the study, microstructure and tribological behavior of AISI 420 and AISI 316 were studied and through the application of low temperature plasma surface modification, it has been possible to improve the base properties exhibited by the materials. Both grades of steel were subjected to a range of plasma surface modifications, using nitriding, carburizing and carbo-nitriding techniques over a set temperature range. Improvements in the surface hardness were documented in all cases. Characterization of the depth of the modified layer was carried out using SEM, GDOES and cross-sectional micro-hardness to obtain optimum conditions for treatment of replica steel blades for use in simulation wear testing. A synthetic ice substitute was created, for tribological testing, and an improvement in performance was observed following the surface modification procedure
