Mangalloy

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Mangalloy, also called manganese steel or Hadfield steel, is a steel alloy containing an average of around 13% manganese. Mangalloy is known for its high impact strength and resistance to abrasion.

Material properties
Mangalloy is made by alloying steel, containing 0.8 to 1.25% carbon, with 11 to 15% manganese.[1] Mangalloy is a unique non-magneticsteel with extreme anti-wear properties. The material is very resistant to abrasion and will achieve up to three times its surface hardnessduring conditions of impact, without any increase in brittleness which is usually associated with hardness.[2] This allows mangalloy to retain its toughness. Most steels contain 0.15 to 0.8% manganese. High strength alloys often contain 1 to 1.8% manganese.[3] At about 1.5% manganese content, the steel becomes brittle, and this trait increases until about 4 to 5% manganese content is reached. At this point, the steel will pulverize at the strike of a hammer. Further increase in the manganese content will increase both hardness and ductility. At around 10% manganese content the steel will remain in its austenite form at room temperature.[4] Both hardness and ductility reach their highest points around 12%, depending on other alloying agents.[1] Mangalloy has been used in the mining industry, cement mixers, rock crushers, railroad frogs, crawler treads for tractors and other high impact and abrasive environments. These alloys are finding new uses as cryogenic steels, due to their high strength at very low temperatures. Mangalloy is heat treatable, but the manganese lowers the temperature at which austenite transforms into ferrite. Most grades are ready for use after annealing and then quenching from a yellow heat, with no further need of tempering, and usually have a normal Brinell hardness of around 200 HB, (roughly the same as 304 stainless steel), but, due to its unique properties, this number has very little effect on determining the abrasion and impact resistance of the metal.[5] Many of mangalloy's uses are often limited by its difficulty in machining. The metal cannot be softened by annealing, and usually requires special tooling to machine. The material can be drilled with extreme difficulty using diamond or carbide. Although it can be forged from a yellow heat, it may crumble if hammered when white-hot, and is much tougher than carbon steel when heated.[1] It can be cut with an oxy-acetylene torch, but plasma or laser cutting is the preferred method.[6] Despite its extreme hardness and tensile strength, the material may not always be rigid.[1] It can be formed by cold rolling or cold bending.[6]