ANALISIS EKSPERIMENTAL KEKUATAN SAMBUNGAN BAJA RINGAN MENGGUNAKAN PENGIKAT PAKU KELING DENGAN PENGUJIAN TARIK

Abstrak

Light-gauge steel is a modern construction material that offers advantages due to its mechanical properties, lightweight nature, and corrosion resistance. In its application, rivets are commonly used as permanent fastening elements in joints. This study aims to analyze the strength of riveted light-gauge steel joints through experimental tensile testing. Two joint configurations were investigated, namely inline and zigzag patterns. The test specimens consisted of C-profile light-gauge steel with dimensions of 125 mm × 75 mm × 35–34 mm. Each specimen was assembled using 16 rivets as permanent fasteners in the joint area. All tensile tests were conducted at the Materials Testing and Measurement Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universitas Tadulako. Each specimen was tested using a universal tensile testing machine to determine the maximum tensile strength and the bearing stress around the rivet holes. The results showed that the zigzag joint pattern exhibited higher tensile strength and bearing stress compared to the inline pattern. The average maximum stress of the inline joint was 502.59 MPa, while the zigzag joint reached 613.67 MPa, representing an increase of approximately 22%. The zigzag pattern proved to be more effective in distributing tensile loads because the force was not concentrated along a single failure line but was distributed across multiple fastening points. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that the zigzag joint pattern is more suitable for light-gauge steel connections due to its higher tensile strength, more uniform stress distribution, and better joint efficiency.