Annealing
Annealing is the operation by which the qualities of softness, maleability and
machineability are achieved. It produces the most stress free state by allowing
as much carbon (cementite) to diffuse from the ferrite as possible. It is
accomplished by heating a steel to an austenitic condition and then cooling slow
enough for thorough diffusion, resulting in the microstructure pearlite.
Another process known as spheroidizing is used to create a very soft and machineable state in steel by producing spheroidal cementite microstructures instead of
the lamellar structure of pearlite.
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