The flame quenching process has been employed to modify the surfaces of commercial marine propeller material, aluminum bronze alloy (Cu-8.8Al-5Ni-5Fe), and the microstructure, hardness and wear properties of the flame-quenched layers have been studied. The thermal history was accurately monitored during the process with respect to both the designed maximum surface temperature and holding time. The XRD and EDX analyses have shown that at temperatures above $T_{eta}$, the microstructure consisting of ${alpha}+{kappa}$ phases changed into the ${alpha}+{eta}^{prime}$ martensite due to an eutectoid reaction of ${alpha}+{kappa}{ ightarrow}{eta}$ and a martensitic transformation of ${eta}{ ightarrow}{eta}^{prime}$. The ${eta}^{prime}$ martensite phase formed showed a face-centered cubic (FCC) crystal structure with the typical twinned structure. The hardness of the flame-quenched layer having the ${alpha}+{eta}^{prime}$ structure was similar to that of the ${alpha}+{kappa}$ structure and depended sensitively on the size and distribution of hard ${kappa}$ and ${eta}^{prime}$ phases with depth from the surface. As a result of the sliding wear test, the wear resistance of the flame-quenched layer was markedly enhanced with the formation of the ${eta}^{prime}$ martensite.