Full annealing
Completely softens the material and benefits subsequent machining by creating a balanced metallurgical structure free of internal stress.

Soft annealing
Softens previously hardened metals or alloys for improved machinability.

Homogenization
Applied to obtain both a homogeneous chemical structure and a softer material, by heating the material and maintaining it at a high temperature.

Normalizing
Like full annealing, normalizing produces ferrite-perlite structures and homogeneous microstructures that are often required for specific mechanical applications and constitute the ideal state for quenching.

Annealing or Tempering
Applied after quenching at a low temperature in order to remove brittleness, suppress stress and obtain the required final hardness.

Spheroïdizing
Increases the cold working capacity of the treated metal.

Stress relieving
Highly recommended to avoid thermo-mechanical stresses induced by welding and hot or cold forming that can undermine the performance of a part or an assembly.

Stress relieving by vibration
An alternative to conventional stress relief treatment when heat is to be avoided for reasons of dimensional stability.