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This paper, investigates the wear performance of AISI 316 stainless steel in a designed statistical approach, namely the Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Austenitic stainless steels are widely used in industrial applications, mainly due to their good corrosion resistance. However, their low hardness and poor wear performance impose strong limitations in cases where tribological properties are of prior significance. Nitriding has gained acceptance as a surface hardening technique despite these problems. Therefore, an austenitic stainless steel type AISI 316 was subjected to gas nitriding processes. Experimental design is first created using composite design method in the response surface methodology. Then gas nitriding and wear tests were performed accordingly and results analyzed. The nitrided layers were investigated using optical microscopy (OM) technique. The phases built-up at the nitrided surfaces were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD) method. The microhardness of the nitrided layers was also measured and incorporated in the analysis. Results showed that the maximum wear resistance experimentally obtained is 93% (7% wear weight loss) as compared with the un-nitrided specimen (100 % wear weight loss), The RSM analysis and optimization predicts that this percentage could be increased up to 98% (2% wear weight loss).