Sir Robert Abbott Hadfield F. R. S. (1858-1940) and the dicovery of manganese steel

Abstract

SIR Robert Hadfield’s discovery of manganese steel in 1882 is generally recognized as the landmark in metallurgical history that inaugurated the age of alloy steels. He related some of the details of this breakthrough in a major study, Metallurgy and Its Influence on Modern Progress (London, Chapman & Hall, 1925), and also set his work in a historical context with a subsequent publication on Michael Faraday’s alloy researches (1). However, many of the events surrounding Hadfield’s discovery are unknown. This paper, by drawing on Hadfield’s diaries, letters and experimental notebooks, which have recently come to light from his firm’s East Hecla works in Sheffield, adds new information about a key metallurgical development (2). After an introductory section, outlining Hadfield’s career before his discovery, his experimental work is discussed and the problems associated with the introduction of the revolutionary material are then highlighted.