The annealing process gives a treatment of a workpiece at a certain temperature and with a certain retention time, followed by cooling that is dimensioned so as to attain the desired material properties. The treatment is produced in air or nitrogen gas.

Stress relieving is an annealing process performed at sufficiently high temperatures (however, with hardened and tempered steels, it is performed below the last tempering temperature), with the aim of reducing internal stress without making any fundamental changes to the microstructure or the mechanical properties.

Suitable materials

All steels

Customer information required for heat treatment (annealing)
The following information is required for performing annealing:

Material designation

Structural stability

Annealing process in air or nitrogen

Tests

Hardness test

Metallographic examination and by special arrangement