Cathodic protection of steel guitar strings against the corrosive effect of human sweat

Abstract

[EN] The steel strings of guitars suffer aggressive corrosion when exposed to human sweat. To mitigate this effect, in this research work guitar strings were subjected to cathodic protection by impressed current. To evaluate the corrosion, electrochemical techniques were used to determine the polarization resistance and the instantaneous corrosion rate, as well as the weight loss by gravimetric measurements. Microphotographs were also carried out to compare the corrosion status of the steel strings by stereoscopic optical and field emission scanning electron microscopy. Impressed current cathodic protection allowed the formation of iron oxides on steel guitar strings to be reduced by around 40%