🔍 Key Concepts

• Annealing as a heat-treatment process • How heating and slow cooling change a metal’s internal structure • Difference between hardness, softness/ductility, and toughness

💭 Think About

• Think about why you would heat a bent or work-hardened steel fitting on a vessel and let it cool slowly—what property are you trying to restore? • If you wanted metal to be harder, would you normally cool it quickly (quench) or slowly? How does that compare to annealing? • Which property of metal makes it easier to bend, form, or machine without cracking?

✅ Before You Answer

• Recall that annealing involves heating and SLOW cooling, not rapid quenching. • Match the process of relieving internal stresses and making metal easier to work with to the correct choice. • Eliminate any option that describes an effect you’d normally get from quenching and tempering, rather than slow cooling.