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annealing

 
Dictionary: An·neal·ing
Home > Library > Literature & Language > Webster 1913

n.

1. The process used to render glass, iron, etc., less brittle, performed by allowing them to cool very gradually from a high heat.

2. The burning of metallic colors into glass, earthenware, etc.

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: annealing
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Treatment of a metal, alloy, or other material by heating to a predetermined temperature, holding for a certain time, and then cooling to room temperature, done to improve ductility and reduce brittleness. Process annealing is carried out intermittently during the working of a piece of metal to restore ductility lost through repeated hammering or other working, if several cold-forming operations are required but the metal is so hardened after the first operation that further cold working would cause cracking (see hardening). Full annealing is done to give workability to such parts as forged blanks destined for use in the machine-tool industry. Annealing is also done for relief of internal stresses in metal and glass. Annealing temperatures and times differ for different materials and with properties desired; steel is usually held for several hours at about 1,260°F (680°C) and then cooled for several hours. See also heat treating, solid solution.

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Architecture: annealing
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A process of holding a material at an elevated temperature, but below its melting point, to permit the relieving of internal stresses in the material.

Archaeology Dictionary: annealing
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[Ge]

A metallurgical process involving the heating and then slow cooling of metal during the course of working it in order to increase its ductility and reduce any brittleness caused by hammering and bending. Annealing is especially important when working gold, silver, copper, and bronze.
 
Columbia Encyclopedia: annealing
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annealing (ənēl'ĭng), process in which glass, metals, and other materials are treated to render them less brittle and more workable. Annealing consists of heating the material and then cooling it very slowly and uniformly; the time and temperatures required in the process are set according to the properties desired. Annealing increases ductility and lessens the possibility of a failure by relieving internal strains. The process, also called hot working, was known to the ancients.

Wikipedia: Annealing
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Annealing may refer to:

  • Annealing (metallurgy), a heat treatment that alters the microstructure of a material causing changes in properties such as strength and hardness and ductility.
  • Annealing (glass), heating a piece of glass to remove stress
  • Annealing (biology), DNA or RNA pairing by hydrogen bonds to a complementary sequence, forming a double-stranded polynucleotide
  • Simulated annealing, a technique for searching for a solution in a space otherwise too large for "ordinary" search methods to yield results
  • Information annealing or knowledge annealing, a network-based information system in which all users of the system are permitted to change the system at will
  • Quantum annealing, a method for finding solutions to combinatorial optimisation problems and ground states of glassy systems using quantum fluctuations
  • Full annealing, the annealing process of ferrous alloys.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. Webster 1913 Dictionary edited by Patrick J. Cassidy  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Architecture. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Archaeology Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Annealing".  Read more