In your own words describe the following heat treatment procedures for steels and, for each, the intended final microstructure: full annealing, normalizing, quenching, and tempering.

Question: Briefly describe the four heat treatment procedures for steels and their purposes. Answer: The four heat treatment procedures for steels are full annealing, normalizing, quenching, and tempering. Full annealing softens steel and refines grain size, resulting in increased ductility. Normalizing refines grain size and homogenizes the microstructure, improving tensile strength and impact toughness. Quenching rapidly cools steel and results in a martensitic microstructure with high hardness and strength but also brittleness. Tempering is performed after quenching to reduce brittleness while retaining strength, resulting in a more ductile material with a balanced combination of martensite, ferrite, and carbides.