The Normalizing Process

Normalizing

Heat treatment enables manufacturers to modify the physical properties of metals in important ways. For example, case hardening and induction hardening both transform metal surfaces, causing them to harden.

Yet some heat treating processes soften certain metals to reduce brittleness and enhance ductility. Annealing changes the properties of many metallic constituents in this way, including silver and copper. It allows industrial parts manufacturers to work with metals more easily. Many manufacturers use a specialized form of annealing, normalizing, to enhance the ductility of steel and other ferrous metals comparatively inexpensively.

Annealing

Annealing offers a process for softening and toughening metals, enhancing ductility and reducing brittleness. Generally, a manufacturer first re-heats metal to a designated temperature above the point of crystallization for a specified period of time and then cools it.

Manufacturers have devised several different specialized annealing processes for working with different metals and metal alloys. These take place in some fabrication environments. The processes include normalizing, sub-critical annealing, process annealing, and stress relief annealing.