STUDY OF AISI 1020 STEEL CHARACTERIZATION BY ZINC-ELECTROPLATING TREATMENT

AISI 1020 steel is low carbon steel with a carbon content of 0.20%. Before the steel is applied it is usually done metal finishing to improve its quality such as corrosion-resistant properties, appearance, toughness, electrical conductivity, and other properties. One way of metal finishing is by electroplating. Electroplating with zinc coating material is widely applied because zinc is a corrosion resistant steel coating, producing a good surface appearance, and the price is quite affordable. Based on the description above, the influence of temperature and time of zinc electroplating process on thickness, adhesion, and corrosion resistance of AISI 1020 steel was studied. Temperature variations to be used  are 25, 30, and 35 o C. While for time variations are 9, 12, and 15 minutes. The measurement of the thickness of the zinc layer was carried out using a DFT test, to find out the strength of the pulling carried out Pull-Off testing, and to obtain the value of the corrosion rate carried out by immersion testing and then calculated using weight loss method. The highest thickness value is 28.1333 µm with variation of temperature is 35 o C with 15 minutes plating time. The highest adhesive strength value is 15.595 MPa with a temperature variation of 25 o C and 9 minutes plating time. The lowest corrosion rate value is 0.0097 mmpy with a temperature variation of 35 o C and 15 minutes plating time.