Electrochemical Characterization of Steel Bridge Welds under Simulated Durability Test
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 23, Issue 10
Abstract
Ever increasingly, corrosion-induced steel bridge deterioration, particularly near or at the welded joints, has led to a huge economic burden in the United States. There is, however, no sufficient information about weldment corrosion in steel bridges, which has hindered the application of appropriate corrosion mitigation. This study is to better understand corrosion behavior of steel bridge welds. Investigation of weldment corrosion of commonly used bridge steels, the low-carbon iron steel, and weathering steel, was performed using four electrochemical tests under simulated corrosive environments. Two coating systems, organic zinc-rich three-coat system and one-coat calcium sulfonate alkyd (CSA), were deposited to the samples to determine their performance at weldment. Results revealed that bridge welds exhibit higher corrosion initiation over base metals, regardless of types of steel or coating. In addition, the weathering steel shows the higher resistance to corrosion initiation (twice as high) in welded area as compared to the low-carbon iron steel. Moreover, the protective coating can effectively delay the corrosion initiation at the welds, thus enhancing the corrosion resistance of bridge welds.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by NDDOC, Ozbun Economic Development Award, USDOT (FAR0025913) and USDOT Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (FAR0025626). The authors also appreciate the donation of bridge steel by Contech Engineered Solution LLC, Watson Coating, Inc. for CSA coating samples, Pacific Painting Company, and the North Dakota DOT for three-coat samples. Any results, discussion, recommendations, and opinions reflected in this paper are those of the authors only and do not necessarily represent those donors.
References
AASHTO. 2015. Standard specification for structural steel for bridges. AASHTO M 270M/M 270, 1–14. Washington DC: AASHTO.
Amirudin, A., and D. Thieny. 1995. “Application of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy to study the degradation of polymer-coated metals.” Prog. Org. Coat. 26 (1): 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/0300-9440(95)00581-1.
ASTM. 2006. Standard reference test method for making potentiostatic and potentiodynamic anodic polarization measurements. ASTM G5. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM. https://doi.org/10.1520/G0005-13E02.2.
ASTM. 2017. Standard specification for structural steel for bridges. ASTM A709 A709M-17. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM.
Appuhamy, J. M. R. S., M. Ohga, T. Kaita, P. Chun, and P. B. R. Dissanayake. 2013. “Development of an efficient maintenance strategy for corroded steel bridge infrastructures.” J. Bridge Eng. 18 (6): 464–475.
Baweja, D., H. Roper, and V. Sirivivatnanon. 1993. “Relationships between anodic polarisation and corrosion of steel in concrete.” Cem. Concr. Res. 23 (6): 1418–1430. https://doi.org/10.1016/0008-8846(93)90079-O.
Chaves, I. A., and R. E. Melchers. 2011. “Pitting corrosion in pipeline steel weld zones.” Corros. Sci. 53 (12): 4026–4032.
Chen, W. F., and D. Lian. 2014. Bridge engineering handbook. Construction and maintenance. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Cheung, M. S., and W. C. Li. 2001. “Serviceability reliability of corroded steel bridges.” Can. J. Civ. Eng. 28 (3): 419–424.
Chong, S., and Y. Yao. 2003. Laboratory evaluation of waterborne coatings on steel. No. FHWA-RD-03-032. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration, US Dept. of Transportation.
Čičo, P., D. Kalincová, and M. Kotus. 2011. “Influence of welding method on microstructural creation of welded joints.” Res. Agric. Eng. 57 (Spec. Issue): S50–S56.
Gamry Instruments. 2015. “Framework—Help documentation vers. 6.30.” Warminster, PA: Gamry Instruments.
Hassan, H. H., E. Abdelghani, and M. A. Amin. 2007. “Inhibition of mild steel corrosion in hydrochloric acid solution by triazole derivatives: Part I. Polarization and EIS studies.” Electrochim. Acta 52 (22): 6359–6366. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2007.04.046.
Helsel, J. L., M. F. Melampy, and K. Wissmar. 2008. “Expected service life and cost considerations for maintenance and new construction protective coating work.” In Proc., Corrosion 2008 Conf. and Expo. Houston: NACE International. http://www.caldwellwatertanks.com/downloads/nace-international-paper-no-08279-sg-corrosion-2008.pdf.
Hunkeler, F., G. S. Frankel, and H. Bohni. 1987. “Technical note: On the mechanism of localized corrosion.” Corros. 43 (3): 189–191. https://doi.org/10.5006/1.3583134.
Kogler, R. 2015. Steel bridge design handbook: Corrosion protection of steel bridges. FHWA-HIF-16-002. Vol. 19. Washington, DC: Office of Bridges and Structures, Federal Highway Administration. Accessed November 6, 2016. https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/steel/pubs/hif16002/volume19.pdf.
Lee, C., and P. Woollin. 2005. “Preferential weld corrosion: effects of weldment microstructure and composition.” In Proc., CORROSION 2005. Houston: NACE International. https://www.onepetro.org/conference-paper/NACE-05277.
Lecchi, M. 2011. “Evaluation of predictive assessment reliability on corroded transmission pipelines.” J. Nat. Gas Sci. Eng. 3 (5): 633–641.
Lin, Z., F. Azarmi, Q. Al-Kaseasbeh, M. Azimi, and F. Yan. 2015a. “Advanced ultrasonic testing technologies with applications to evaluation of steel bridge welding—An overview.” Appl. Mech. Mater. 727–728, 785–789.
Lin, Z., F. Yan, M. Azimi, F. Azarmi, and Q. Al-Kaseasbeh. 2015b. “A revisit of fatigue rerformance based welding quality criteria in bridge welding provisions and guidelines.” In Proc., 2042–2046.
Lin, Z., H. Pan, X. Wang, and M. Li. 2018. “Data-driven structural diagnosis and conditional assessment: From shallow to deep learning.” In Vol. 10598 of Proc., Sensors and Smart Structures Technologies for Civil, Mechanical, and Aerospace Systems 2018. Denver, CO: SPIE. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2296964.
Liu, M., X. Cheng, X. Li, G. Liu, J. Pang, and Y. Zhu. 2015. “Corrosion behavior of Cr modified HRB400 steel rebar in 2%NaCl solution.” Corros. Sci. Prot. Technol. 27 (6): 559–564. https://doi.org/10.11903/1002.6495.2014.401.
Loveday, D., P. Peterson, and B. Rodgers. 2004a. “Evaluation of organic coatings with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Part 1: Fundamentals of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.” J. Coat. Technol. 46–52.
Loveday, D., P. Peterson, and B. Rodgers. 2004b. “Evaluation of organic oatings with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy—Part 2: Application of EIS to coatings.” J. Coat. Technol. 1 (10): 88–93. Accessed on November 6, 2016.
Loveday, D., P. Peterson, and B. Rodgers. 2005. “Evaluation of organic coatings with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy—Part 3: Protocols for testing coatings with EIS.” J. Coat. Technol. 2 (13): 22–27.
Manning, D. G. 1996. “Corrosion performance of epoxy-coated reinforcing steel: North American experience.” Constr. Build. Mater. 10 (5): 349–365. https://doi.org/10.1016/0950-0618(95)00028-3.
Matthews, S., and B. James. 2010. “Review of thermal spray coating applications in the steel industry: Part 1 – Hardware in steel making to the continuous annealing process.” J. Therm. Spray Technol. 19 (6): 1267–1276.
NACE International 1999. “Techniques for Monitoring Corrosion and Related Parameters in Field Applications.” Accessed on November 11, 2016. Retrieved from http://www.cosasco.com/documents/Corrosion_Monitoring_Techniques.pdf.
Nady, H., M. M. El-Rabiei, and M. Samy. 2017. “Corrosion behavior and electrochemical properties of carbon steel, commercial pure titanium, copper and copper–aluminum–nickel alloy in 3.5% sodium chloride containing sulfide ions.” Egypt. J. Pet. 26 (1): 79–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpe.2016.02.008.
Padilla, V., P. Ghods, and A. Alfantazi. 2013. “Effect of de-icing salts on the corrosion performance of galvanized steel in sulphate contaminated soil.” Constr. Build. Mater. 40, 908–918. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2012.09.077.
Pan, H., M. Azimi, F. Yan, and Z. Lin. 2018a. “Time-frequency-based data-driven structural diagnosis and damage detection for cable-stayed bridges.” J. Bridge Eng. 23 (6): 04018033. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)BE.1943-5592.0001199.
Pan, H., R. Ge, X. Wang, J. Wang, N. Gong, and Z. Lin. 2017. “Embedded wireless passive sensor networks for health monitoring of welded joints in onshore metallic pipelines.” In Proc., ASCE Pipeline 2017. Phoenix, AZ.
Pan, H., G. Gui, Z. Lin, and C. Yan. 2018b. “Deep BBN learning for health assessment toward decision-making on structures under uncertainties.” KSCE J. Civ. Eng. 22 (3): 928–940. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-018-1301-2.
Parthiban, G. T., T. Parthiban, R. Ravi, V. Saraswathy, N. Palaniswamy, and V. Sivan. 2008. “Cathodic protection of steel in concrete using magnesium alloy anode.” Corros. Sci. 50 (12): 3329–3335. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.corsci.2008.08.040.
Pritzl, M. D., H. Tabatabai, and A. Ghorbanpoor. 2015. “Long-term chloride profiles in bridge decks treated with penetrating sealer or corrosion inhibitors.” Constr. Build. Mater. 1 (1): 1037–1046.
Ren, C., L. Liu, F. Yi, M. Guo, T. Zou, and N. Xian. 2009. “Internal corrosion behaviors of API X80 welding pipeline.” In Proc., Int. Conf. on Pipelines and Trenchless Technology (ICPTT). Reston, VA: ASCE. https://doi.org/10.1061/41073(361)170.
Söylev, T. A., and M. G. Richardson. 2008. “Corrosion inhibitors for steel in concrete: State-of-the-art report.” Constr. Build. Mater. 22 (4): 609–622. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2006.10.013.
Tang, F., G. Chen, J. S. Volz, and R. K. Brow, and M. Koenigstein. 2012. “Microstructure and corrosion resistance of enamel coatings applied to smooth reinforcing steel.” Constr. Build. Mater. 35, 376–384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2012.04.059.
Tomlinson, W. J., and S. J. Matthews. 1988. “Intergranular corrosion of welds in type 405 stainless steel.” J. Mater. Sci. 23 (6): 2064–2068. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01115769.
Vetters, A. 1978. “Corrosion in welds.” In International Corrosion Conference, 13–17. Melbourne.
Wang, Y., and G. P. Bierwagen. 2009. “A new acceleration factor for the testing of corrosion protective coatings: Flow-induced coating degradation.” J. Coat. Technol. Res. 6 (4): 429–436. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11998-008-9161-1.
Wang, Y., X. Zuo, and J. Li. 2015. “Corrosion resistance of the welded joint of submarine pipeline steel with ferrite plus bainite dual-phase microstructure.” Steel Res. Int. 86 (11): 1260–1270. https://doi.org/10.1002/srin.201400309.
Wang, X., X. Qi, Z. Lin, J. Wang, and N. Gong. 2016. “Electrochemical Characterization of Structural Steels in Soils.” Pipelines 2016 Conference, Aug, 17–20. Kansas city, MO.
Weinell, C. E., and S. N. Rasmussen. 2007. “Advancement in zinc rich epoxy primers for corrosion protection.” In CORROSION 2007. Nashville, Tennessee: NACE International.
Wilkins, C. 2008. “Corroded gusset plates prompt closing Hwy 43 bridge in Winona.” MnDot Newsline. Accessed November 6, 2016. http://www.newsline.dot.state.mn.us/archive/08/jun/4.html.
Wright, W. 2012. Steel bridge design handbook: Bridge steels and their mechanical properties. Publication No. FHWA-IF-12-052. Vol. 1. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration, Office of Bridge Technology.
WSDOT (Washington State Department of Transportation). 2015. Bridge design manual. Olympia, WA: WSDOT.
Yan, F., W. Chen, and Z. Lin. 2016a. “Prediction of fatigue life of welded details in cable-stayed orthotropic steel deck bridges.” Eng. Struct. 127: 344–358.
Yan, F., L. Zhibin, and H. Ying. 2016b. “Numerical simulation of fatigue behavior for cable-stayed orthotropic steel deck bridges using mixed-dimensional coupling method.” KSCE J. Civil Eng. 1–13.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 23 • Issue 10 • October 2018
Copyright
© 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 12, 2016
Accepted: Dec 28, 2017
Published online: Jul 18, 2018
Published in print: Oct 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Dec 18, 2018
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.