Analysis of the Effect of Temperature and Anodizing Time on the Coating Thickness in Anodizing Process of Aluminium 6061

Aluminum 6061 is commonly used for the anodizing process. Anodizing is a coating method by forming an oxide layer on the metal surface which aims to protect and decorate. This research process uses aluminum 6061 as an anode and a Pb platea cathode, with electrolyte solution H₂SO₄ 20%. Variations were made on the anodizing temperature (10 °C, room ±30 °C, and 50 °C) and variations on anodizing time (10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 min). The tests carried out were the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to determine the thickness of the coating and the Megger test to determine the resistance of the material. The results of the research on the best and optimal coating thickness at the anodizing temperature of 10 °C were 3,004 µm with the anodizing time of 30 min, at room temperature ±30 °C with the best and optimal coating thickness of 12.2 µm with the anodizing time of 20 min, and at 50 °C the best and optimal coating thickness was 14.44 µm with the anodizing time of 20 min. So that the higher the anodizing temperature and the longer the anodizing time will form a higher layer thickness value. However, if it has exceeded the optimal point, the layer thickness will decrease. This research, it is hoped that it can support SMEs’ anodizing service providers in developing optimal anodizing temperature and time variations to improve the quality of anodizing products.