Have you ever seen a rusty bridge in your neighbourhood or while travelling? In addition to pedestrian bridges and highway bridges, corten-equivalent corten steel is commonly used as an alternative. While conventional steel bridges take advantage of the latest advances in automated fabrication and construction techniques to provide economical solutions, corten steel bridges offer additional benefits.
A bridge constructed from unpainted corten steel can have a design life of 120 years with only minimal maintenance because the corrosion rate is so low. A well detailed corten steel bridge can provide an attractive, very low maintenance, economical solution in many environments.
In corten steel, rusting occurs in the same way, but the specific alloying elements in the steel produce a stable rust layer that adheres to the base metal and is less porous. Under alternate wetting and drying conditions, rust develops a protective barrier that prevents oxygen and moisture from reaching the surface.