Manganese

Manganese is a chemical element with the element symbol Mn and atomic number 25, a silver-white, hard, very brittle transition metal, which in some properties resembles iron. It mainly occurs in nature as brownstone and is mined in large quantities. 90 % of the mined element is used in the steel industry in the form of ferromanganese as an alloying component of steel.

It removes oxygen and sulphur from the steel and at the same time improves through-hardening. Manganese oxide, which is used as a cathode in batteries, is also economically important. It is a silver-white, hard, very brittle heavy metal. Up to a temperature of 727 °C, the α manganese structure is thermodynamically stable.

This is a distorted cubic structure with 58 atoms in the elementary cell. The atoms of the structure can be divided into four groups with different environments and coordination numbers between 12 and 16.