The main content of manganese metal is Mn element, and there is only a small amount of impurities in it. The manganese metal has many names such as electrolytic manganese, manganese metal flakes, electrolytic manganese metal flakes, etc. This article introduces the details of the manganese metal, and the similarities and differences with the electrolytic manganese metal.
The Production Process of Manganese Metal
Manganese can be produced in three ways: thermite process, electrosiliconthermic process, and electrolysis.
The thermite process is a smelting method using aluminum as a reducing agent and chemical heat released by reducing manganese oxide, which can produce manganese metal with a content higher than 90%. The manganese metal produced by this method has high impurity content and high production cost, and few manufacturers have adopted this method to produce manganese metal.
Manganese metal is produced by using silicon in high silicon manganese alloy to reduce manganese oxide in rich manganese slag in a refining furnace. The advantages of this method are lower production cost, but compared with the electrolysis method, the grade of manganese ore is higher, and the content of manganese metal obtained is about 96-97%.
Direct current electrolysis of manganese sulfate solution was used to produce manganese metal with high purity (Mn: 99.7-99.9%). Electrolytic manganese technology has low requirements on manganese ore grade, but it consumes a lot of chemical raw materials and electric energy in the production process, and the corresponding production cost is also high. Electrolytic manganese is mainly used to make special alloys.
The Chemical Composition of Manganese Metal
From the above, we understand the production method of metal manganese. The content of metal manganese produced by different processes is also different.
Electrolytic manganese metal specification
| Grade | Mn min | C max | Si max | Fe max |
| Electrolytic Mn 99.8 | 99.8 | 0.02 | 0.005 | 0.03 |
| Electrolytic Mn 99.7 | 99.7 | 0.04 | 0.01 | 0.03 |
Manganese metal specification
| Grade | Mn min | C max | Si max | Al+Ca+Mg max |
| Mn Metal97 | 97 | 0.08 | 0.4 | 0.7 |
| Mn Metal96 | 96 | 0.08 | 0.5 | 0.7 |
The Forms of Manganese Metal
The common forms of manganese metal products are manganese metal flakes, manganese metal lump, manganese metal briquette, and manganese metal power.
Electrolytic manganese metal flakes are prepared by electrolysis. It looks like iron, silver white irregular flake, firm and brittle, bright on one side, rough on the other.
The size of the manganese metal block can be customized. It is also can be processed into manganese metal briquette according to the customers’ requirements.
It turns silver gray after processing for powder. It is easy to oxidize in air, dissolves and displaces hydrogen when it meets dilute acid and can decompose water and release hydrogen when it is slightly higher than room temperature.
The Uses of Manganese Metal
Manganese metal is mainly used as a deoxidizing agent, and an alloying agent in the production of high-temperature alloys, stainless steel, non-ferrous alloy, and low carbon high hardness steel.
Electrolytic manganese metal, due to its high purity and fewer impurities, is widely used in the production of stainless steel, high strength low alloy steel, aluminum manganese alloy, and copper and manganese. It is also an indispensable raw material for welding electrodes, ferrite, permanent magnet alloy elements, and many pharmaceutical and chemical industry.
In recent years, the world aluminum industry has become the main user of electrolytic manganese metal. In the iron and steel industry, electrolytic manganese metal is also used as a deoxidizer and desulfurized. According to statistics, the consumption of electrolytic manganese metal for one ton of steel is 0.06kg.
With the progress of metallurgical technology, jet metallurgy technology has been a great development, and the application of electrolytic manganese powder in the metallurgical industry has been increasing day by day, with the amount of expansion, and breakthroughs in the above indexes.
In recent years, due to the rapid development of special steel, especially 200 series stainless steel, the proportion of manganese metal in metallurgy is increasing. Aluminum-manganese alloy is a modern light and beautiful building material, decoration engineering material, and underground engineering anticorrosive support material. In recent years, the aluminum-manganese alloy has gradually entered ordinary residential buildings in China, which has greatly expanded the market for metallic manganese.
Through this article we understand that electrolytic manganese is a kind of metal manganese, it is mostly in flakes. Its purity is higher and is widely used in the steel industry and other industries. If you want to know more about manganese metal please feel free to contact us.