Environmental Factors Affecting Corrosion

of Galvanized Steel Wires

Keita Suzumura1 and Shun-ichi Nakamura, M.ASCE2

Abstract: It was found from field surveys that suspension bridge cables were under severe corrosion environments due to the water and
high temperature inside the cable. Corrosion environments depended on the wire positions inside the cables. Wires were found to be
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continuously wet at the side, wet at night and dry during the day on the top, highly humid at the center, and soaked in the water at the
bottom. Accelerated corrosion tests using galvanized steel wires showed that the side wires were most severely corroded, the bottom wires
were also significantly corroded, but the upper and the center wires were rarely corroded. These phenomena agreed with the actual cable
corrosion. The tests also showed that galvanized steel wires did not corrode when they were kept with a relative humidity below 60%, but
became corrosive with the higher relative humidity. Larger amounts of sodium chloride increased corrosion considerably. The corrosion
rate also exponentially increased with temperature. It was predicted that the zinc layer would be consumed within 10 years when wires
were kept in the wet or soaked environments, 34 years with a relative humidity of 100%, and 211 years with a relative humidity below
60%.
DOI: 10.1061/共ASCE兲0899-1561共2004兲16:1共1兲
CE Database subject headings: Steel cables; Corrosion; Bridges, suspension; Bridge maintenance; Zinc.

Introduction
There are many old suspension bridges in the U.S. and some of
them suffer deteriorated cables. Steel wires in the bridge cables
are heavily corroded and many of them are broken. Rehabilitation
work on the corroded wires was carried out on the Brooklyn
Bridge and the Williamsburg Bridge 共New York City兲, and the
cable corrosion has been a major issue 共Sluszka and Hyaden
1989; Stahl and Gagnon 1996; Betti and Yanev 1998; and Mayr-
baurl 2000兲.
Long span suspension bridges are relatively new in Japan.
However, it was found from field surveys that galvanized steel
wires were partly corroded on several suspension bridges within
10 years after the bridges were completed. A wide survey was
carried out on these bridges. It was reported by Furuya et al.
共2000兲 that water was present inside the cable and made the en-
vironment inside the cable highly humid, which caused the cor-
rosion of the wires. However, steel corrosion was not deep and no
pitting corrosion or broken wires were observed.
The researchers tried to improve the corrosion resistance by
developing a new protection method with the S-shape wire wrap-
ping system 共Furuya et al. 2000兲. The new wrapping wire had an
S-shape cross section and, when it was wrapped on the cable, the
1
Manager, Technical Development Center, Nippon Steel Corpor-
ation, 5-9 Nishihasimoto, Sagamihara 229-1131, Japan. E-mail:
suzumura.keita@eng.nsc.co.jp
2
Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Tokai Univ., 1117 Kitakaname,
Hiratsuka 259-1292, Japan. E-mail: snakamu@keyaki.cc.u-tokai.ac.jp
Note. Associate Editor: David Trejo. Discussion open until July 1,
2004. Separate discussions must be submitted for individual papers. To
extend the closing date by one month, a written request must be filed with
the ASCE Managing Editor. The manuscript for this paper was submitted
for review and possible publication on August 17, 2001; approved on
March 25, 2003. This paper is part of the Journal of Materials in Civil
Engineering, Vol. 16, No. 1, February 1, 2004. ©ASCE, ISSN 0899-
1561/2004/1-1–7/$18.00.
cable surface was smooth with a better waterproof property. The
model cables with this new wrapping system and with the con-
ventional corrosion resistant system were exposed near the sea-
shore for 4 years. Water was poured into the specimens to simu-
late the actual situations. The new method showed better
corrosion resistance than the conventional method, even though
the central part was corroded as a result of the water.
Another new method was therefore proposed: dry air was in-
jected and circulated inside the cable on the whole span to remove
the water inside the cable and to keep it dry 共Furuya et al. 2000兲.
It is widely known that steel does not corrode when it is kept dry,
and this dehumidification system seems to be promising. But
what has not been clarified is the lower limit of the relative hu-
midity to prevent corrosion, and how much sodium chloride
worsens corrosion.
This paper demonstrates the environmental conditions inside a
cable, how galvanized steel wires corrode under different corro-
sion environments, and how much relative humidity, temperature,
and sodium chloride affect the corrosion rate of galvanized steel
wires.
Corrosion Resistant System for Suspension Bridge
Cables
The conventional corrosion resistant system for typical suspen-
sion bridge cables is shown in Fig. 1. A cable consists of thou-
sands of high-strength steel wires with diameters of about 5 mm.
Each steel wire is coated with zinc with a thickness of about 50
␮m, equivalent to 350 g/m2 . The galvanized steel wire is then
coated with a primary coating, such as chromate, acrylic resin or
epoxy resin, to protect the steel wires during construction.
After all of the wires are installed at the erection sites, they are
compacted to form a round shape and covered with anti-corrosion
paste on the surface. They are then wrapped with annealed gal-
vanized steel wires with a diameter of about 4 mm. Finally the

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Fig. 1. Corrosion resistant system of suspension bridge cables

Fig. 2. Temperatures inside cable in 1 day

cable surface is painted on the wrapping wires. This system has

remained basically unchanged since its first use on the Brooklyn
mm long and was exposed to a natural environment 共temperature
Bridge about 100 years ago.
13– 23°C, relative humidity 30–100%兲. Relative humidity 共RH兲
Steel wires are usually galvanized. There are some cases that
and temperature were measured with hygrometers and thermom-
steel wires are not galvanized. The Williamsburg Bridge cable is
eters, which were inserted inside the model cable. Water was
one of these cases. This bridge showed poor corrosion perfor-
poured into the model cable to simulate actual conditions. Typical
mance when compared with galvanized steel wires. Steel wires
RH and temperature fluctuations for 24 h are shown in Figs. 2 and
should therefore be galvanized to reduce the risk of corrosion.
3. Relative humidity was nearly 100% inside the cable except the
Red lead has been almost exclusively used as the paste mate-
upper part, where it decreased to 85% in the afternoon. The tem-
rial in the U.S. and Europe. Japanese suspension bridges have
perature at the upper part was always higher than the outside
used the mixed paste, consisting of calcium plumbate, high-
temperature. The temperature at the side was lower than the out-
molecular organic lead, calcium carbonate, and linseed oil. Al-
side temperature in the morning but increased in the late after-
though the paste has been exclusively used to improve corrosion
noon. The temperature at the center and lower parts of the cable
resistant properties on conventional suspension bridges, it has
remained almost constant, independent of the outside tempera-
been eliminated when dehumidification systems are used. This is
ture.
because dry air goes though the spaces between the outer wires
From these investigations, the environment inside the cable is
and the wrapping wires and dehumidifies more efficiently.
estimated, as shown in Fig. 4. The water makes the whole cable
inside highly humid. At the top part of the cable, when tempera-
ture cools down at night, the wires become wet with dew. As
Environment Inside Cable
temperature increases during the day, the dew is partly removed.
Therefore, wires are wet with dew at night but become dry during
Furuya et al. 共2000兲 performed a wide field investigation on cable
day. At the side of the cable, it also dews at night, but the tem-
corrosion of several Japanese suspension bridges. When wrapping
perature does not increase sufficiently to dry the cables. For the
wires were unwrapped, water was present at the bottom part of
side conditions, wires are wet both day and night. At the center of
the cable on all of the investigated bridges. A large amount of
the cables, temperature fluctuation is small and dew does not
water flowed from some of the bridge cables when the wrapping
wires were removed. At the same time, a dark brown color caused
by steel rust was observed on the light brown surface of the
anticorrosion paste at the side and lower parts of the cable. When
the anticorrosion paste was removed, the zinc coating was partly
depleted and steel rust was visible. The side part was most se-
verely corroded and the bottom part was also significantly cor-
roded. Wood wedges were inserted inside the cable to investigate
the corrosion condition. A couple of surface layers of galvanized
steel wires were severely corroded and steel rust was observed,
whereas corrosion was light inside the cable and only white zinc
rust was observed.
There are two possibilities why water is present inside the
cable. It usually takes a couple of years to erect cables on site and,
during this period, rainwater may enter the wires and then remain
inside. Even after the cables are completed and covered with
wrapping wires and paints, water may enter through damaged
sealer at the cable bands or cracks on the paint surface.
The environment inside the cable was investigated by Furuya
Fig. 3. Relative humidity inside cable in 1 day
et al. 共2000兲. The model cable was 650 mm in diameter and 2000

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Fig. 4. Estimated environments inside cable
form. Therefore, the surface of the wires is not wet, but the envi-
ronment is highly humid. The lower part is continuously soaked
in the water.
Corrosion Simulation of Galvanized Steel Wires
Accelerated corrosion tests were conducted to find out how these
different environments inside the cable affect the corrosion per-
formance of galvanized steel wires. Test cases are shown in Fig. 5
and Table 1. Each galvanized steel wire specimen was 150 mm
long and 5 mm in diameter. Three specimens were tested in each
test case.
Test S simulated the environment of the side part of the cable,
where it was continuously wet. Galvanized steel wires were cov-
ered with wet gauze and placed in an enclosed box to keep them
wet. Test U simulated the environment of the upper part, where
the specimens were wet at night and dried during the day. Galva-
Fig. 5. Corrosion simulation tests
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Table 1. Corrosion Tests of Galvanized Wires
Test Cable position Corrosion environment
S Side Constantly wet
U Upper Cyclically wet and dry
L Lower Soaked in the water
C Center Highly humid with 100% RH
nized steel wires were also covered with wet gauze but they were
kept in a partially open box. When the wet gauze became dry,
water was sprayed to wet it. Test L simulated the environment of
the lower part where it was continuously in the water. Galvanized
steel wires were therefore kept in water in the confined box. Test
C simulated the center part where it was not wet but highly
humid. Galvanized steel wires were kept in the confined box
where the relative humidity was maintained at 100%. All of the
tests were conducted under a temperature of 40°C to accelerate
the wire corrosion. The effect of temperature is discussed later.
Specimens were taken out from the enclosed box after 1
month. Corrosion products on the specimen surface were re-
moved with a cloth containing 10% H2 SO4 . Mass of the speci-
mens was measured and this mass was subtracted from the origi-
nal mass to determine mass loss. The same procedure was
repeated after 2 and 3 months. The mass loss of the corroded
specimens per m2 for the four exposure conditions 共S, L, U, and
C兲 is shown in Fig. 6. Three specimens were tested for each
exposure condition, and each point in this figure is the average of
mass losses of these three specimens. Specimen S was clearly the
most severely corroded, followed by specimen L, whereas virtu-
ally no corrosion was observed in the U and C specimens.
The appearances of the finished specimens are shown in Fig.
7. On specimen S, dark brown areas were widely dispersed, and
steel corrosion was observed. However, the steel corrosion was
not deep and no pitting corrosion was observed. On specimen L,
dark gray corrosion products were also dispersed but corrosion
was lighter than specimen S. On specimens U and C, white zinc
corrosion products covered the entire surface but steel corrosion
products were not observed. These observations agreed with those
of the actual cables in the field and these simulation tests success-
fully clarified the corrosion mechanism of the suspension bridge
cables.
Corrosion Substances of Galvanized Steel Wires
Corrosion substances of zinc were removed from the surface of
the specimens after the test period of 90 days and examined using
Fig. 6. Corrosion rate of simulation test specimens

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Fig. 7. 共Color兲 Appearance of specimens after simulation tests
x-ray diffraction tests. The test results are shown in Fig. 8. The
zinc corrosion product of specimens S and L mainly consists of
ZnO and that of specimens U and C consists of ZnO and
Zn4 CO3 (OH) 6 . It is thought that specimens U and C are covered
with the dense, adhesive layer of Zn4 CO3 (OH) 6 , that exhibits
good corrosion resistances, whereas, ZnO in specimens S and L
Fig. 8. X-ray diffraction results
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Fig. 9. Cross section of S specimen
exhibits poor corrosion resistance. This explains why specimens S
and L were more corroded than specimens U and C.
A cross section of the corroded portion of specimen S was
taken with an optical microscope and is shown in Fig. 9. The zinc
was partly depleted and the steel under the zinc started to corrode.
It is believed that the steel part of a galvanized steel wire does not
corrode until the zinc layer is completely depleted because the
zinc has sacrificial properties. However, even though the zinc
layer was still present, the work shows that the steel under the
zinc did start to corrode in these simulation tests 共Fig. 9兲. It is
thought that, as the water existing on the surface of specimen S
was very thin and had a weak electrolyte property, the remaining
zinc could not produce the sacrificial effect and could not protect
the steel beneath the zinc.
Dehumidification of Bridge Cables
The dehumidification method was first implemented on the Little
Belt Suspension Bridge in Denmark to prevent corrosion on the
inside of steel box girders and the steel wires in anchorages. It
was reported that the system had been working well since then
共Bloomstine 1999兲. This dehumidification system was first ap-
plied to the main cables of the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, a suspen-
sion bridge with a main span of 1990 m and completed in 1998. It
was reported that it took 6 months to dry the water inside the
cable and the relative humidity had remained below 60% after
dehumidification 共Furuya et al. 2000兲.
The principle of the dehumidification system is based on the
fact that steel does not corrode when it is kept dry. However, the
corrosion rate of galvanized steel wires may depend on the rela-
tive humidity, but this effect has not yet been clarified. From a
practical point of view, it is important to identify the target rela-
tive humidity at which the environment inside the cable should be
kept to prevent corrosion of galvanized steel wires.
The outside air is taken into the dehumidifying device, dried
with silica gel, and sent to the cable. The dry air may contain
sodium chloride 共NaCl兲 when suspension bridges are situated in
the marine environment. When sodium chloride attaches to the
wire surface, it absorbs moisture and breaks down the protective
passive film, causing the steel wires to corrode. The dehumidifi-
cation system should therefore include a device to remove sodium
Fig. 10. Corrosion simulation tests under different relative humidity
 Table 2. Corrosion Tests of Galvanized Wires Table 3. Corrosion Rate of Galvanized Wires
Test no. Corrosion environment Test NaCl concentration (g/m2 ) Corrosion rate (g/m2 /year)
D1 Kept at 30% RH S 0.0 963.2
D2 Kept at 60% RH 0.1 859.6
D3 Kept at 30– 60% RH alternately 10 1,368.4
L 0.0 234.8
0.1 934.8
chloride from the outside air. However, it is not easy to remove 10 1,057.2
sodium chloride completely because of the capacity of the remov- C 0.0 47.2
ing device. So, it is essential to evaluate how much the absorbed 0.1 96.8
sodium chloride affects the wire corrosion. 10 282.8
D1 0.0 5.2
0.1 7.6
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Effect of Relative Humidity and Sodium Chloride 10 62.0

D2 0.0 4.0
Accelerated corrosion tests were performed to find how much 0.1 10.0
relative humidity and sodium chloride affect the corrosion rate of 10 76.4
galvanized steel wires. Test cases are shown in Fig. 10 and Table D3 0.0 7.6
2. Galvanized steel wires were placed in the enclosed box where 0.1 10.0
it was kept at three different relative humidities. The relative hu- 10 100.4
midity within the box was kept at 30 and 60% for tests D1 and
D2, respectively. It was found from field measurements on the
was repeated until the absorbed sodium chloride concentration
Akashi Kaikyo Bridge that the relative humidity inside the cable
became the specified value. Three specimens were tested in each
fluctuated depending on seasonal climate, being relatively high in
test case.
summer and low in winter. It also fluctuated in 1 day, being rela-
The specimens were taken out from the enclosed box after 1
tively high at night and low during the day. Dry air was produced
month. Corrosion products on the specimen surface were re-
by taking in and dehumidifying the outside air, which had the
moved by the cloth containing 10% H2 SO4 and the mass was
same fluctuation of relative humidity. As the dehumidifying ca-
measured. The mass loss was obtained by subtracting this mass
pacity was limited, the relative humidity of dry air followed that
from the original mass. The same procedure was repeated after 2
of the outside air. Test D3 simulated this situation and the relative
and 3 months. The corrosion rates of specimens D1 共30% RH兲,
humidity varied from 30 and 60% alternately every other day.
D2 共60% RH兲, and C 共100% RH兲 after the test period of 90 days
Three specimens were tested in each test case.
are plotted with relative humidity in Fig. 11. The corrosion rate is
It was known from the field survey of bridge cables 共Furuya
defined in this study as the corroded amount per year, which is
et al. 2000; Nakamura et al. 2000兲 that the average sodium chlo-
four times the measured corroded mass for 90 days. Each point in
ride absorbed on the wire surface was small with about 0.1 g/m2 .
this figure is the average of the three specimens tested under the
However, there may be an extraordinary case where sodium chlo-
same condition. The specimen with a small amount of sodium
ride is absorbed locally and condensed. In such a case, the sodium
chloride with 0.1 g/m2 shows the same tendency as the specimen
chloride concentration can be very high. Three different amounts
without sodium chloride. They do not corrode when the relative
of sodium chloride, 0, 0.1, and 10 g/m2 , were therefore absorbed
humidity is below 60%, but become corrosive when the relative
on the specimens in each group. The specimens were immersed in
humidity reaches 100%. The specimen with a large amount of
the water containing sodium chloride. After it dried, its mass was
absorbed sodium chloride of 10 g/m2 accelerates corrosion much
measured and this mass was subtracted from the original mass to
faster.
measure the mass of the absorbed sodium chloride. This process
The corrosion rates of the galvanized steel wires are summa-
rized in Table 3. The corrosion rates of specimens S and L are

Fig. 11. Corrosion rate under different relative humidity Fig. 12. Corrosion rate of S specimen 共constantly wet兲

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Fig. 13. Corrosion rate of D2 specimen 共60% relative humidity兲
more than ten times higher than that with tests D1, D2, and D3.
This indicates that corrosion is unlikely to occur when a cable is
kept at a relative humidity below 60%. It is also understood from
the measured corrosion rate of the specimens absorbed with three
different sodium chloride concentrations that, as the sodium chlo-
ride increases, more corrosion results in all of the test cases.
The accelerated corrosion tests were continued for 90 days.
The mass loss of tests S, D2, and D3 for this period are shown in
Figs. 12, 13, and 14. The mass loss generally increases propor-
tionally with time, but the increasing rate decreases with time in
some cases.
Effect of Temperature
In general, steel corrodes more when it is kept at higher tempera-
ture. The same corrosion simulation test S 共constantly wet condi-
tion兲 was performed for galvanized steel wires, which were kept
in the confined box at four different temperatures, 0, 10, 20, and
40°C for 3 months. The S simulation test produced the severest
corrosion in the previous tests.
The relation between mass loss and time is shown in Fig. 15.
Each point in this figure is the average of three specimens tested
under the same condition. The corroded mass was measured in 2
weeks, 1 month, and 3 months after the start of the tests. These
four lines increase linearly with time. The corrosion rate is the
highest in the specimen at 40°C, followed by 20, 10, and 0°C in
this order. Judging from these results, suspension bridge cables
Fig. 14. Corrosion rate of D3 specimen 共30– 60% relative humidity兲
6 / JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2004
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Fig. 15. Corrosion rate of S specimen under different temperature
共constantly wet, no sodium chloride兲
would be more likely to suffer corrosion problems in hot and
humid countries than in cold areas.
The corrosion rates of these four data are shown in Fig. 16.
The corrosion rate is normalized with the average temperature in
Japan of 16°C. It increases exponentially with the test tempera-
ture. The accelerated corrosion tests in the previous sections were
conducted at a temperature of 40°C. Therefore, the acceleration
rate of the corrosion simulation tests is about 4.6 when compared
with the temperature of 16°C, as shown in Fig. 16.
Life Index of Galvanized Steel Wires
It is difficult to predict the life of corroded cables because galva-
nized steel wires do not always corrode uniformly. However, pit-
ting corrosion was not observed on the bridge wires in the field
survey or in the present simulation tests. Hence, in general, the
zinc layer corrodes first and then the steel starts to corrode. The
period until the total zinc of 350 g/m2 is completely consumed
would therefore be a good index to show the life of galvanized
steel wires. As the remaining life can be expected even after the
zinc is consumed, this would be a conservative value.
The life index can be predicted from the corrosion rate in
Table 3 using the acceleration rate of 4.6 共Fig. 16兲. The life index
for the specimen S is calculated as follows. Taking the corrosion
rate of 963 g/m2 /year 共Table 3兲 and the acceleration rate of 4.6
共Fig. 16兲, the zinc layer with 350 g/m2 is consumed over a period
Fig. 16. Relative corrosion rate of S specimen 共constantly wet, no
sodium chloride兲
 Table 4. Estimate of Life Index of Galvanized Steel Wires
Years
Corrosion until total
Test rate of Corrosion consumption
temperature galvanized acceleration of zinc
Test no. (°C) wires (g/m2 /year) rate (350 g/m2 )
S 40 963 4.6 1.7
L 40 234 4.6 6.9
C 40 47.2 4.6 34
D3 40 7.6 4.6 211
of 1.7 years 关 (350/963)⫻4.6兴 . The predicted life indexes for all
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the simulation cases are summarized in Table 4. The predicted life
index of galvanized steel wires in the wet or soaked environments
共specimen S or L兲, which simulates the side and lower parts of the
actual cables without dry air injection, is less than 10 years. The
life index under the environment with a relative humidity of
100% 共specimen C兲, which simulates the central part of the cable
without dry air injection, is 34 years. This is not sufficient for
bridge structures. On the other hand, the life index under the
environment with a relative humidity of 60% 共specimens D2 and
D3兲 is 211 years, which is sufficiently long. Since the predicted
life index above is based on a temperature of 16°C, it can be
much shorter on the bridges situated in warmer countries.
The present study focuses on how fast the zinc layer is con-
sumed and when the steel starts to corrode. However, it is also
important to study how the steel corrosion proceeds after this. The
steel is likely to corrode much faster after the zinc layer is de-
pleted. In the process of steel corrosion, hydrogen is absorbed
into the steel and stress cracking may occur. Fatigue corrosion is
also possible due to the roughness of the corroded surface. Crev-
ice corrosion may occur when the wires are helically twisted and
contact each other. Further studies are required to clarify these
phenomena and the remaining strength of the corroded galvanized
wires.
Conclusion
Environmental factors that affect corrosion of galvanized wires
were studied in this paper. The main conclusions are as follows:
Some cable wires in suspension bridges are under severe cor-
rosive environments due to the water and high temperature inside
the cables. Corrosion environments depend on the positions of the
inside of the cable. Wires are always wet at the side, wet at night
and dry during the day at the top, highly humid at the center, and
continuously saturated at the bottom. Accelerated corrosion tests
of galvanized steel wires under these different environments were
conducted. It was found that the side wires were the most se-
verely corroded, the bottom wires were also significantly cor-
roded, but the upper and center wires were generally not cor-
roded. These phenomena agreed with the actual cables in the field
and these simulation tests clarified the corrosion conditions.
Relating to the dehumidification system with dry air, acceler-
ated corrosion tests were carried out to clarify the effect of rela-
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tive humidity with corrosion. Galvanized steel wires not exposed
to sodium chloride did not corrode when they were kept with a
relative humidity below 60%, but actively corroded at higher rela-
tive humidity. Galvanized wires in an environment with small
amounts of sodium chloride (0.1 g/m2 ) showed the same ten-
dency as those without sodium chloride. However, larger amounts
of sodium chloride (10 g/m2 ) considerably increased the corro-
sion even when the relative humidity was below 60%. The corro-
sion rate exponentially increased with temperature. The life index
of galvanized steel wires, defined by the period until the zinc
layer is consumed, was predicted from the corrosion acceleration
test results. The life index was less than 10 years when wires were
kept in the wet or soaked environments, 34 years with a relative
humidity of 100%, and 211 years with a relative humidity below
60%. The life index of galvanized wires was predicted based on
the laboratory testing by accelerating wire corrosion in this study.
Since the actual corrosion environments of cables may be more
complicated than the laboratory testing conditions, further studies
are required to understand the long term performance and im-
prove the accuracy of the predicted life index of galvanized wires.
The dehumidification system has been installed on some Japa-
nese suspension bridges and has been working effectively so far.
However, if air leaks near the cable bands or on the cables sur-
face, its corrosion resistance could substantially decrease. It is
emphasized that regular maintenance and monitoring are impor-
tant to keep this dehumidification system working well.
Acknowledgments
The writers deeply appreciate Mr. Makoto Kitagawa and Mr. Ka-
zuhiko Furuya, Honshu Shikoku Bridge Authority, for their sup-
port and advice on this study.
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