Product Description

Manganese is essential to iron and steel production by virtue of its sulfur-fixing, deoxidizing, and alloying properties. Steelmaking,[*7] including its ironmaking component, has accounted for most manganese demand, presently in the range of *5% to *0% of the total demand. Among a variety of other uses, manganese is a key component of low-cost stainless steel formulations.

Small amounts of manganese improve the workability of steel at high temperatures, because it forms a high melting sulfide and therefore prevents the formation of a liquid iron sulfide at the grain boundaries. If the manganese content reaches 4% the embrittlement of the steel becomes a dominant feature. The embrittlement decreases at higher manganese concentrations and reaches an acceptable level at 8%. Steel containing 8 to *5% of manganese can have a high tensile strength of up to **3 MPa. Steel with *2% manganese was used for the British steel helmets. This steel composition was discovered in ***2 by Robert Hadfield and is still known as Hadfield steel.