Electrolytic process for cleaning and coating electrically conducting surfaces and product thereof

A metal workpiece which has been metal-coated with a metal other than the metal forming the workpiece by providing an electrolytic cell with a cathode comprising the surface of the workpiece and an anode comprising the metal for metal-coating of the surface of the work-piece;

• introducing an electrolyte into the zone created between the anode and the cathode by causing it to flow under pressure through at least one opening in the anode and impinge on the cathode;
• and applying a voltage between the anode and the cathode and operating in a regime in which the electrical current decreases or remains substantially constant with increase in the voltage applied between the anode and the cathode, and in a regime in which discrete gas bubbles are present on the surface of the workpiece during treatment, wherein the metal workpiece has a surface profile which is characterized by the presence on the said surface and integral therewith of quasi-spherical droplets of the coating metal;
• said droplets having an average diameter of 1 to 50 micrometers.

A metal workpiece which has been metal-coated with a metal the same as the metal forming the workpiece by providing an electrolytic cell with a cathode comprising the surface of the workpiece and an anode comprising the metal for metal-coating of the surface of the work-piece;

• introducing an electrolyte into the zone created between the anode and the cathode by causing it to flow under pressure through at least one opening in the anode and impinge on the cathode;
• and applying a voltage between the anode and the cathode and operating in a regime in which the electrical current decreases or remains substantially constant with increase in the voltage applied between the anode and the cathode, and in a regime in which discrete gas bubbles are present on the surface of the workpiece during treatment, wherein the metal workpiece has a surface profile which is characterized by the presence on said surface and integral therewith of quasi-spherical droplets of the coating metal;
• said droplets having an average diameter of 1 to 50 micrometers.