High-strength bridge bolts hydrogen embrittlement in Northeast

140 ksi bolts on a pier in New Jersey or Connecticut; no cathodic protection or inadequate zinc coating; hydrogen embrittlement failures within one to two years.

When you grow rust, you're breaking water down into hydrogen or oxygen, and some of that hydrogen can get into the steel and cause hydrogen embrittlement. I've had a couple of cases where people used high-strength bolts at some pier in New Jersey or Connecticut, and they figured, oh, we'll use 140 ksi bolts, different grades of bolts. They put them in there and didn't do anything to give them cathodic protection. They might have zincs, but the same stuff doesn't always cover as well. Within a year or two these things are breaking — hydrogen embrittlement.