Heat treatment effect on Mechanical property in SM45C (AISI1045) steel

구조용 중탄소강 SM45C의 열처리에 따른 기계적 성질변화

The aim of this study is to find out the relationships between the microstructures of SM45C(AISI1045) steel and fatigue crack propagation behaviour. Three microstructures such as (i) as received (fully annealed). (ii) water quenched and tempered, and (iii) oil quenched and tempered were used for fundamental mechanical testing and fatigue crack proagation test. The microstructures of (ii) and (iii) showed superior in tensile strength to (i). Resistance against fatigue crack propagation was higher in structure (i), while tensile properties were better in structures (ii) and (iii). It is believed due to that the enhancement of roughness of fracture surface obsered in structure (i) increases ${\Delta}Kth$ and lowers fatigue crack growth rate. However it does not necessarily mean the quenched and tempered structures (ii) and (iii) are undesirable for the engineering component because fatigue limit in low cycle test appears usually higher in the microstructures of higher strength.