Hi Paul:

I don't recall if tool steel is incompatible with chrome. There is an
excellent SAE paper from Curtiss Wright (believe the authors were Galliers
and Lamping) that enumerated the hundreds (literally) of material
combinations that were tested (some in rigs only, some in both rigs and
engines). This paper will give you info on materials that have a good chance
of working against chrome. BTW, the Mazda seal is piston ring iron, but the
running surface is a layer of iron carbide formed by electron beam treatment.
I would *think* that tool steel, properly prepared, would be no more
aggressive in abrasion than iron carbide. There may be more tendency to
adhesion with tool steel than with the iron carbide/cast iron material. The
advantage to tool steel would be its greater strength (against high
combustion pressures and detonation).

Jon Lauter
Rotary Power Marine Corporation
www.rotarymarine.com

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