DefinePK

Abstract

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Juwana Pati, Central Java has been contributing greatly to the economy in Indonesia. One of SME products in the form of handicraft from aluminum castings. Product marketing covers major cities in Indonesia and ASEAN, such as Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore as tourist destinations, both domestic and foreign tourists. However, the quality of handicraft products is still low to cause the product is less preferred by consumers. The main problem faced in producing this aluminum casting craft is to have a low hardness level of 59 HRB, and less attractive colors. The purpose of this research is to improve the quality of aluminum casting crafts products through the improvement of metal coating process, especially increasing hardness so as to increase the amount of export. The applied method is to analyze the effect of nickel and copper coating current on hardness, and to analyze the effect of coating time on nickel and nickel + copper on hardness. The result can be that the hardness can be increased up to 20% by electroplating process using 5 ampere current for 10 minutes.