It is known that austenitic stainless steels exhibit low tribological properties; therefore, they cannot be used in friction pairs without pretreatment aimed at surface hardening. One of the methods for hardening the working surfaces of the parts is electrospark alloying, which has some advantages over other methods; that is, it provides high adhesion of the deposited layers to the substrate, ease of technology and equipment, the possibility of depositing of any conductive material, etc.  Specially shaped samples of stainless steel 04X18H10  were subjected to electrospark hardening using electrodes of Mo, Cr, and a T15K6 hard alloy as well as to a combined treatment involving initially Mo and then Cr. The treatment was conducted under conditions of electric pulses with an energy of 0.3 to 1.0 J. Tribological tests of the coatings were conducted using an upgraded SMC-2 friction and wear machine in the laboratory for tribology of the Kaunas Aleksandras Stulginskis University (Lithuania). A coated segment (with a flat working surface) was paired with a disc of hardened stainless steel 30X13 (HRC 42-45). All coatings were tested under a load of 100 and 200 N in engine oil 10W-40 until a sliding distance of 30 000 m. Two samples of each of the coatings were tested under each load. The wear of the samples was determined by weighing on an electronic balance with an accuracy of 0.1 mg. During the friction and wear tests, the friction coefficient and the friction distance were recorded in a computer using a special program. After the wear tests, the friction surfaces of the segments and disks were subjected to profilometry using a Mahr GmbH Gottigen Typ ST 500 profilograph; micrographs were recorded using a NICON ECLIPSE MA-100 optical microscope. A MICRO-COMBI TESTER was used to record the penetration charts of a pyramidal indenter under indentation in the load F (in mN)-penetration depth h (in nm) coordinates to determine the mechanical properties of the coatings.  It was found that, under a load of 100 N, the lowest and highest wear is exhibited by the Mo coating (J_m = 1.67 · 10^-6 mg/m) and the T15K6 hard alloy coating (J_m = 1.83 · 10^-5 mg/m), respectively. The wear of uncoated stainless steel 04X18H10  was more than three orders of magnitude higher (J_m = 5.57 · 10^-3 mg/m) than the wear of steel 04X18H10  coated with Mo.  It was determined that a load of 200 N is critical for the coating of T15K6. Under this load, the friction coefficient increases to 0.2-0.25 and the coating is rapidly destroyed. In addition, under this load, the coatings of Mo and Mo + Cr exhibited the same wear intensity of J_m = 5 · 10^-6 mg/m, although the wear intensity of the discs was different. It should also be noted that the wear of the chromium coating was 1.34 times higher than the wear of the rest of the coatings. It was shown that a twofold increase in load (from 100 to 200 N) led to an order of magnitude increase in the wear intensity of steel 04X18H10  ((J_m = 5.7 · 10^-2 mg/m) and the steel discs (J_m = 4.43 · 10^-3 mg/m). It was found that, during friction and wear, the roughness of the friction surfaces decreases for the coatings and increases for uncoated steel 04X18H10  and the discs.  Examination of the microstructure of the friction surfaces of the disks and segments of uncoated steel has shown that the adhesive and abrasive wear mechanism for these surfaces is basic. Therefore, the wear of the discs was 13-22 times higher in tests with uncoated steel 04X18H10 than with steel 04X18H10  coated with different materials.