Manganese ranks at the twelfth position in the most abundant metal in the Earth's crust. The word manganese is derived from a Latin word Magnes, which means Magnet. It comes after the three most used metals worldwide, which are iron, aluminium and copper. The largest buyer of manganese is steel industry. This industry uses as much as 90% manganese as an alloying element. There is no substitute of this metal that can match its price.
A ferroalloy with high manganese content is ferro manganese. Manganese dioxide and Iron(III) oxide are mixed with coal and coke, and heated in blast furnace or submerged arc furnace to form this ferro alloy. This ferroalloy is used in steel industry as a deoxidizer.
High carbon ferro manganese, as the very name suggests, has high carbon contents. Manganese ore and coke are used in the production of high carbon ferro manganese in arc furnace. Its demand has increased with the rise in duplex refining practices, like AOD and CLU. In India, this ferro alloy is produced in bulk. SS producers use it as raw material. Also referred as standard ferromanganese, it is directly smelted from manganese ores. The content of carbon ranges from 7 to 7.5%, while manganese content is usually between 74 to 82%.