In making hoe blades, blacksmith home
industries still use simple equipment and the knowledge of making them has been
passed down from generation to generation. Often the hoe blades produced by
blacksmiths crack and chip and even break the blade, so farmers have to often
replace them with new blades. The reason this blacksmith's hoe is easily
damaged is because the heat treatment method was carried out incorrectly. To
increase the hardness of the metal, it is necessary to carry out a heat
treatment process, one of which is the hardening process. After the hardening process is carried out, a quenching process is carried out (fast
cooling) to produce high hardness. In addition, the increase in hardness value
is influenced by the heating temperature during hardening. Based on the
problems above, research was carried out with the aim of improving the hardness
quality of the material for making hoes, namely ASTM A36 steel material using hardening methods and varying hardening temperatures .
This
research is experimental research. In this research, the hardening method was
used, ASTM A36 steel material was put into a muffle furnace then heated to a
temperature of 920°C, 940°C, 960°C holding time for 15 minutes, and using salt
water as a cooling medium. After the hardening process, Rockwell hardness testing and Impact
Testing are carried out.
The results of research from Rockwell testing show that the Rockwell
hardness value at a temperature s of 920 ℃ has an average hardness value of 24.58
HRC, then at a temperature s of 940 ℃ it has an average hardness value of 2 7 . 09 HRC and at a temperature s of 960 ℃ it has an average hardness value 29.99
HRC.
The research results from Impact Testing show that the impact
value at a temperature s of 920 ℃ has an average of 0. 47 Joules/mm2, then at a temperature s of 940 ℃ an average of 0. 33 Joules/mm2 and at a temperature s of 960 ℃ has an average of 0, 23 Joules/mm2