Sir Robert Abbott Hadfield, 1st BaronetFRS[1] (28 November 1858 in Sheffield – 30 September 1940 in Surrey) was an Englishmetallurgist, noted for his 1882 discovery of manganese steel, one of the first steel alloys. He also invented silicon steel, initially for mechanical properties (patents in 1886) which have made the alloy a material of choice for springs and some fine blades, though it has also become important in electrical applications for its magnetic behaviour.[2]
Hadfield was born 28 November 1858 in Attercliffe, then still a village near Sheffield.[1] Hadfield's father, also named Robert Hadfield, owned Hadfield's Steel Foundry in Sheffield and in 1872 was the first manufacturer of steel castings in Britain. He declined to use patented technology from France and developed his own, thus laying the foundations for what was to become one of Britain's leading armament firms.[1]
Robert the younger decided against Oxford and Cambridge, and entered work as an apprentice in 1875.[1] He was successful and by the age of 24 had taken over the management due to his father's ill health.[1]
Hadfield took out two patents on manganese steel in 1883--the British precursors to U.S. patent 303,150 and U.S. patent 303,151--and exhibited the material before the Institution of Mechanical Engineers the next year.[1] In February 1888 he presented a paper to the Institution of Civil Engineers about his further research on manganese in steel, which included the discovery that an alloy containing between 12 and 14 per cent manganese had special utility. Amongst other properties: in a tensile test it drew out uniformly whilst in most metals local elongation or ‘necking’ occurs, and magnetism is absent in it.[1] In Brinell units the surface hardness increased on deformation from 200 to 550 or 580 (approaching that which will scratch glass) according to measurements by Floris Osmond.[1] Its hardness and non-magnetic properties gave advantage in the arms industry, especially for British helmets.[1]
The younger Hadfield took over the business in 1888 on his father's death. The firm was then made into a limited company, and he became chairman and managing director. The younger man was then 30 years of age.[1]
In 1899 a paper in the Royal Dublin Society was published by Barrett, Brown and Hadfield of seminal importance to magnetism, in a hundred alloys of iron.[1]
In 1925 under his name appeared the book Metallurgy and its Influence on Modern Progress; Faraday and his metallurgical researches appeared in 1931; 1935 saw Empire development and proposals for the establishment of an Empire Development Board.
In 1936 Hadfield presented to the Institution of Civil Engineers a paper in which he detailed the corrosive effect of sea-water on 980 metals.[1]
He is commemorated in the Sir Robert Hadfield Building at the University of Sheffield, which contains the Departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Chemical and Biological Engineering. There is also a wing at Sheffield's Northern General Hospital named after him.
^ abTweedale, Geoffrey (November 1985). "Sir Robert Abbott Hadfield F.R.S. (1858–1940), and the Discovery of Manganese Steel". Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London. 40 (1): 63–74. doi:10.1098/rsnr.1985.0004.
