A Brief History Of Manganese Research

The earliest use of manganese can be traced back to the Stone Age. As early as 17000 years ago, manganese oxide (pyrolusite) was used as a pigment in cave paintings by people in the late Paleolithic period, and manganese was later discovered in weapons used by the ancient Greek Spartans. The ancient Egyptians and Romans used manganese ore to decolorize or dye glass.
Although pyrolusite was used by people for a long time, until the 1870s, Western chemists still believed that pyrolusite was a mineral containing tin, zinc, and cobalt. In the late 18th century, Swedish chemist T O. Bergman studied pyrolusite and believed it to be a new metal oxide, and attempted to separate this metal, but was unsuccessful. Swedish chemist Scheler also did not extract metals from pyrolusite, so he turned to his friend and Bergman's assistant - Gann.
In 1774, Jiang Han obtained a small piece of metallic manganese by reducing dioxide (MnO ₂, also known as pyrolusite) with heated charcoal (mainly carbon).
In the early 19th century, scientists from Britain and France began studying the application of manganese in steel manufacturing, which was recognized in England in 1799 and 1808, respectively.
In 1816, a German researcher discovered that manganese can enhance the hardness of iron without reducing its ductility and toughness.
In 1826, Pieger of Germany manufactured manganese steel with a manganese content of 80% in a crucible.
In 1840, J M. Hitz produces metallic manganese in the UK.
In 1841, Pasa began the industrial scale production of specular iron.
In 1875, Pasa began commercial production of manganese iron with a manganese content of 65%.
In 1860, there was a significant breakthrough in the application of manganese. Bessemer was trying his best to develop a steel making process named after him, but he encountered a problem - too much oxygen and sulfur remained in the steel. This problem was solved by Macht in 1856, who suggested that Bessemer add specular iron (manganese iron with lower manganese content) to the molten steel for sulfur removal. The birth of the Bessemer method marked the evolution from the "Iron Age" of the early industrial revolution to the "Steel Age", which has epoch-making significance in the history of metallurgical development.
In 1866, William Siemens used manganese iron to control the content of phosphorus and sulfur in the steelmaking process and applied for a patent for this method.
In 1868, Le Croncher manufactured the first dry battery, which was later improved to use manganese dioxide as the cathode depolarizer for dry batteries. The application of manganese in the battery field drove the growth of demand for manganese dioxide.
After 1875, European countries began using blast furnaces to produce specular iron containing 15% -30% manganese and manganese iron containing up to 80% manganese.
In 1890, the process of producing manganese iron by electric furnace was born.
In 1898, the aluminum thermal method for producing metallic manganese emerged, and the electric furnace desilication refining method was also used to produce low-carbon ferromanganese.
In 1939, electrolytic production of metallic manganese began.