Annealing

Annealing is the general name given to heat treatments applied to soften metal, increase machinability, homogenize microstructure, or relieve internal stresses occurring after manufacturing.

Types of annealing include normalization annealing, soft (full) annealing, stress relief annealing, and spheroidizing annealing.

The normalization process is performed by heating the steel above the critical temperature and cooling it in still air. This process refines the grain size and prepares the steel for subsequent heat treatments by homogenizing it.