Soldier's helmet made in manganese steel, 1882-1884

Soldier's helmet made in manganese steel, 1882-1884

Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

Buy

License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

License

Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London

Soldier's helmet, manganese steel, 1882-1884

Hadfield's manganese steel contains 11-14% of manganese. The metallurgy of this material is complicated but such steel has a very high resistance to wear because of its high rate of work hardening.This special grade of steel is made in electric arc furnaces and is used in situations requiring extended service life such as railway points. The son of a Sheffield steel manufacturer, Sir Robert Hadfield, working with Sir William Barrett, also worked on silicon alloys and their magnetic properties.

Details

Category:
Metallurgy
Object Number:
1930-866
Materials:
manganese steel (metal)
type:
alloys, manganese, steel and helmets
credit:
Sir Robert A. Hadfield