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Galvanising

Galvanising is a surface treatment process that is also important for the jewellery industry. Galvanising, also known as electroplating, aims to give a metallic material a corrosion-resistant coating. The surface of the respective metal is coated in an electrolytic bath with a precipitate of a desired material. Electric current flows through this electrolytic bath and sets the desired reaction in motion. The arrangement of the metals is of particular importance during galvanising: The material to be coated with a protective layer of another metal must be located at the negative pole, the cathode. The material to be applied as a protective layer must therefore be located at the anode. A rule of thumb for the shape of this metal layer is that it becomes thicker with longer time in the bath and higher electric current. Galvanising can be applied to all metallic materials, but surface hardening using chromium is particularly common. If the workpiece is not attached to the cathode but to the anode so that an oxide forms on it as surface protection, this is referred to as anodising, which is different from galvanising.