Life time improvement of hot working tools becomes one of the major industrial issue unsufficiently mastered. Indeed, loadings induced by hot forming involve coupling between thermal, mechanical, tribological and physicochemical phenomena. They lead to multiple degradation modes (mainly by plastic deformation, thermo-mechanical fatigue, friction and oxidation). Friction induces one of the most detrimental damage, which is difficult to apprehend and to control allowing for the complexity of engaged couplings.This thesis deals with wear of tool steel X40CrMoV5-1 in the case of hot forging of brass. Damage and wear mechanisms were analyzed through an expertise of matrices after used in production. It reveals different types of damage, activated thanks to location and exposure of the matrix surface to cyclic loadings induced during forging. A scenario of a three-body abrasion is proposed maintained by working cycles and wherein brass and toll steel oxides are crucial.Oxidation and pre-oxidized tribological behavior of tool steel were investigated. An original test is proposed to study the influence of hot working cycling on friction-oxidation coupling and its effects on the wear of tool steel. A specific tribometer has been developed. The friction tests are defined by analogy with the hot-working cycle, without reproducing the forming process, favoring formation and trapping of oxides inside the contact
