This article is devoted to the study of the influence of heat treatment and abrasive wear on the behavior of austenite in high-chromium steels Kh12M and 95Kh18. It is shown that heat treatment, including quenching from 1100?°C lead to the formation of metastable structures, with subsequent exposure to which the abrasive wear occurring phase transformation. Metastable austenite is transformed into martensite deformation, which ultimately significantly strengthens the working surface. The result of this study is to define the modes of heat treatment of steels X12M and 95X18 based on the analysis of the phase composition and mechanical properties, which guarantee high parameters of wear resistance in abrasive wear. It is carried out the estimation of the amount of residual austenite in the analyzed steels and it is shown that 30?% of austenite in the steel Kh12M and 55?% of residual austenite in the steel 95Kh15 transformed into deformation martensite.