At the present time, a great deal of experience has been accumulated i
n laser and electron beam treatment of fast-cutting steels. The effect
iveness of plasma hardening has also been established. However, suffic
iently complete data is unavailable in the literature on the effect of
plasma heating on the structure and functional properties of fast-cut
ting steels for different combinations of bulk and plasma heat treatme
nt. Accordingly, in this work we have investigated the properties of R
6M5 steel after plasma surface hardening.