Tribo-corrosion interaction of the parallel steel wires in the suspension bridges

Abstract The effect of contact load and relative displacement on tribo-corrosion interaction of parallel steel wires of main cable in the suspension bridge was investigated in this study. A self-made tribo-corrosion test bench was employed to conduct tribo-corrosion tests of parallel steel wires in 3.5% (wt%) NaCl solution and deionized water under different contact loads and different relative displacements. The friction coefficient and wear coefficient of wires were presented. Electrochemical corrosion behavior (Tafel polarization curves, Nyquist diagram, and equivalent circuit diagram) was characterized by electrochemical analyzer. Wear morphology was observed by scanning electron microscope. Wear volume loss and corrosion-wear interaction were quantitatively demonstrated by high-precision weighing balance. The results show that the electrochemical corrosion ability of the steel wires increases with the increase of the contact load or relative displacement. The increased contact load or relative displacement increases the volume loss of corrosion-wear and pure wear, but decreases the wear coefficient. The wear mechanisms in 3.5% NaCl solution are adhesive wear, abrasive wear, and corrosive wear as compared to adhesive wear and abrasive wear in deionized water under different contact loads. The wear mechanisms of parallel steel wires are slightly different under different relative displacements. But the main wear mechanisms are similar to that under different contact loads. The interaction effects of corrosion and wear produced by the contact load and relative displacement are all the synergistic effects.