Normalizing heat treatment is a heat treating process used to provide uniformity in grain size and microstructure in some steel grades.

Normalizing is the process of heating a material to a temperature above a critical limit and then cooling in open air. Normalizing maybe used as part of a 3 step heat treatment process for high strength steels. This is the first step followed by austenitizing/quenching and tempering.

Normalizing can also be used for cast irons to produce more uniformity, improved wear resistance, and increased hardness values.

Typical applications – Carbon and alloy steel and cast irons