This article provides an overview of austenitic manganese steels. It describes the standard composition ranges of commercial products and explains how various alloying elements affect mechanical properties, processing, and performance. The article also discusses special grades of manganese steels and the types of applications for which they have been developed.

Alloy steels are alloys of iron with the addition of carbon and one or more of the following elements: manganese, chromium, nickel, molybdenum, niobium, titanium, tungsten, cobalt, copper, vanadium, silicon, aluminum, and boron. Alloy steels exhibit superior mechanical properties compared to plain carbonsteels as a result of alloying additions. This chapter describes the beneficial effects of these alloying elements in steels. It discusses the mechanical properties, nominal compositions, advantages, and engineering applications of various classes of alloy steels. They are low-alloy structural steels, SAE/AISI alloy steels, high-fracture-toughness steels, maraging steels, austenitic manganese steels, high-strength low-alloy steels, dual-phase steels, and transformation-induced plasticity steels.

This chapter describes the processes involved in heat treatment of carbon and low alloy steel, high strength low alloy steels, austenitic manganese steels, martensitic stainless steels, and austenitic stainless steels. In addition, precipitation hardening and quench hardening of carbon steel is also covered.

This chapter covers the basics of weldability of cast steels such as carbon and low alloy steels, corrosion-resistant high alloy steels, nickel-base alloys, heat-resistant high alloy steels, and wear-resistant high austenitic manganese steels. It provides an overview of weld overlay and hard facing; cast-weld construction; and plasma arc cutting and plasma arc welding. The chapter discusses different types of welding processes. These include shielded metal-arc welding, air carbon arc cutting process, gas tungsten-arc welding, gas metal-arc welding process, flux-cored arc welding, submerged arc welding, and electroslag and electro-gas welding.

This chapter describes the physical properties of steels used for castings. The properties covered include density, modulus of elasticity, Poisson's ratio, shear modulus, thermal expansion, thermal conductivity, specific heat, thermal diffusivity, electrical resistivity, and magnetic properties.

This chapter introduces the metallographer to the various types of steels and cast irons and explains how they are classified and defined. Classification and designation details are provided for plain carbon steels, alloy steels, and gray, white, ductile, and malleable cast irons.

This chapter provides the definitions of fundamental wear mechanisms. The chapter describes the properties and applications of materials used for wear resistance. It discusses the processes involved in screening tests for wear resistance. In addition, the practical application of wear-resistant principles is covered.

This chapter presents an overview on the twins and stacking faults. It then provides an overview of the compositions, microstructures, thermodynamics, processing, deformation mechanism, mechanical properties, formability, and special attributes of twinning-induced plasticity steels.

This chapter briefly discusses the characteristics of mechanical twins and stacking faults in close-packed planes. It provides an overview of the composition, microstructures, thermodynamics, processing, deformation mechanism, mechanical properties, formability, and special attributes of twinning-induced plasticity steels.