The continuous development of hot forming tool steels has resulted in steels with improved mechanical properties. A change in alloying composition, primarily a decreased silicon content, makes them tougher and more wear resistant at elevated temperatures. However, it is at the expense of their machinability. The aim of this study is to explain the mechanisms behind this negative side effect. Hot work tool steels of H13 type with different Si content were characterised mechanically, and evaluated analytically and by dedicated machining tests. Machining tests verified that materials with low Si content displayed reduced machinability due to their stronger tendency to adhere to the cutting edge. Three hypotheses were tested. The first hypothesis, that the improved toughness of the low Si steels is the reason behind their relatively poor machinability, was rejected after machining tests with one low Si steel heat treated to the same relatively low toughness as conventional hot work tool steels. The second hypothesis, that a change in oxidation properties, also associated with the change in Si composition, lies behind the reduced machinability was investigated by dedicated tests and evaluations. It was found that the oxide thickness increased with reduced Si content and that there was an enrichment of Cr at the oxide/steel interface. The differences in oxide thickness and the possible differences in oxidation properties may influence the machinability of the materials through their different abilities to adhere to the cutting edge. The third hypothesis, that a high enough temperature to initiate phase transformation from ferrite to austenite is generated during machining of the tool steels, was also investigated. This may lead to a reduced machinability because higher austenite content is directly related to higher compressive stresses and higher cutting forces. This causes accelerated tool wear. This hypothesis was verified by ThermoCalc calculation of austenite content in the steels, which showed a good agreement with Gleeble compression tests and cutting force measurements. This thesis confirms that a reduced Si content in conventional H13 steel improves the toughness, reduces the oxidation resistance and lowers the ferrite-to-austenite transformation temperature. The reduction in austenite temperature is probably the most important factor behind the reduced machinability.

Les outillages de mise en forme à chaud sont soumis à des sollicitations thermomécaniques transitoires. Ils sont donc confrontés à la fissuration par fatigue. Le but de ce travail est d'étudier le comportement et la durée de vie en fatigue des aciers d'outillage, notamment leurs résistances à la propagation de fissure. Dans un premier temps, les chargements thermiques imposés aux outillages de fonderie sous pression de magnésium et d'emboutissage à chaud ont été évalués. Ensuite, le comportement et la durée de vie de l'acier à haute conductivité thermique HDC1 ont été étudiés et comparés à l'acier AISI H11 (acier de référence) en fonction de la température. L'acier HDC1 présente un adoucissement cyclique stable à 20°C et 300°C. Par contre, l'intensité d'adoucissement est plus importante à hautes températures. La durée de vie a été étudiée en utilisant les lois de Manson-Coffin et de Basquin. A hautes températures, l'oxydation devient un mécanisme d'endommagement primordial pour l'acier HDC1 et provoque des durées de vie plus courtes que celles observées sur l'acier AISI H11. La résistance à la propagation de fissure de fatigue a été déterminée dans des aciers à la température ambiante par le biais de critères : l'amplitude de facteur d'intensité de contrainte (∆K) et l'amplitude d'ouverture en pointe de fissure (∆CTOD). La méthode de corrélation d'images a permis de mesurer (∆COD) et d'évaluer (∆CTOD). L'ensemble de ces résultats a permis de mettre en évidence l'effet de fermeture de fissure et le comportement plastique en pointe de fissure. ∆CTOD présente un bon critère pour rationaliser la propagation de fissure dans les aciers étudiés.Enfin, la simulation numérique de la propagation de fissure en fatigue a été menée dans l'acier AISI H11 à 600°C par la méthode de relâchement des nœuds en éléments finis. L'effet des modèles de comportement monotone (élastoplastique) et cyclique (élastoviscoplastique) a été étudié sur le calcul de l'ouverture de fissure et la plasticité en pointe de fissure. L'influence du modèle de comportement est faible sur le calcul de l'amplitude d'ouverture de fissure ∆COD, du fait d'une plasticité confinée en pointe de fissure. Alors que, le modèle de comportement cyclique est mieux adapté pour décrire la plasticité en pointe de fissure. / Hot metal forming tools are subjected to cyclic thermomechanical loading and damage by complex fatigue/wear/oxidation interactions. Thermal solicitations were measured on high pressure die casting and hot stamping processes. Based on thermal measurements, the isothermal fatigue behaviour and lifetime of a new high conductivity steel HDC1 were investigated at different temperatures and strain amplitude then compared to AISI H11 steel. As AISI H11, continue cyclic softening was observed in HDC1 at all temperatures. The Manson-Coffin and Basquin laws were used for life prediction models under different temperatures. It was observed that the fatigue/oxidation interaction was a principal damage mechanism of the HDC1 steel at high temperature. Fatigue crack propagation in steels was investigated at room temperature in SENT specimens. A digital image correlation technique was used to evaluate crack opening (∆COD) and crack tip opening displacement (∆CTOD) ranges. Crack growth rate were investigated using ∆K (Paris law) and ∆CTOD criteria. It was observed that the cyclic crack tip plasticity control the crack propagation resistance. Crack closure could be evaluated by ∆CTOD.Finite element method by debond technique was used to model the crack propagation of AISI H11 at 600°C using both monotonic elasto-plastic (EP) and cyclic elasto-viscoplastic (EVP) constitutive laws materials. The comparison of ∆COD calculated and measured had shown that monotonic EP and cyclic EVP had no significant effect on the ∆COD, mainly due to the small-scale yielding conditions. It is however observed that the cyclic constitutive law was the best suitable model for the crack tip plasticity effect.