OPTIMASI KEKUATAN TARIK PROSES ELECTROPLATING SS400 MENGGUNAKAN METODE TAGUCHI

Abstract

SS400 is low carbon steel that been used for industrial construction such as bridge, which is operated in the open environment. Therefore, its mechanical properties and its quality would be decreased along with the time elapsed. In some previous research, it is proofed that electroplating was able to increase the corrosion resistant as well as the tensile strength of the coated steel. Therefore, by electroplated the SS400, hopefully this steel could be improved both of its properties. This research aim to optimize the tensile strength of this steel by electroplating with nickel. The Taguchi method L9 was employed to design the experiments. Variations were made on the electric current,temperature, and the time for the processes, each of them with three levels. Each combination was triple replicated. The steel were manufactured to the shape of tensile samples of ASTM E8 standard prior to coating process. The tensile test machine of Zwick/Roel Z100 was used for tensile test of the samples after coated and compare to the uncoated one. S/N ratio analysis following with ANOVA revealed that temperature, electric current and time of electroplating process contribute to the tensile strength at level of 62.57%, 13.63%, and 10.89% respectively. While the most optimal parameter combination results were the electric current of 3 amperes, temperature of 45oC, and time to process of 15 minutes with a tensile strength of 610.06 MPa. A significant increase of tensile strength of this steel was achieved in compare to the uncoated of 480.04 MPa. Keywords: