Cable is the main force transfer component of cable-stay bridge, and the safety and durability of the bridge will be threatened when the cable corrosion is serious. In this study, artificial accelerated corrosion, three-dimensional topography scanning and mechanical properties testing were carried out to explore the mechanism of additional zinc wire on the corrosion expansion characteristics and mechanical properties degradation of the cables. Firstly, high-strength steel wire cable specimens with zinc wire and without zinc wire (control group) were prepared, and the artificial accelerated corrosion was carried out for 4, 8, and 12 weeks by spraying droplets through the annular openings set up in the sheaths to simulate the damage of the sheaths. Secondly, Hualang 3DX+ non-contact scanner is used to construct the point cloud model of the cable, and the influence of zinc wire on the corrosion expansion of high-strength steel wires is analyzed. Finally, MTS testing machine is used to carry out static tensile of high-strength steel wire with different corrosion degrees, and the correlation model between the cross section loss rate and mechanical properties of the corroded high-strength steel wires is established, and the load-bearing performance of the cable is evaluated. The results show that after 4, 8 and 12 weeks of accelerated corrosion, the average values of the maximum section loss rate of the steel wire at the sheath opening of the zinc-added wires were reduced by 47.14%, 62.68%, and 38.70%, respectively, compared with that of the zinc-free wires; the average values of the ultimate strength of the steel wires at the sheath openings and the average values of the yield strength were increased compared with the cables without zinc wire by 0.17%, 6.12%, 5.55%, and -0.31%, 8.54%, and 6.24%, respectively; and the residual load carrying capacity of the cable was increased by 0.16%, 5.41%, and 4.83%, respectively.