Normalizing is a process of heat treating iron-base metals only.

• A. Aluminum alloys only
• B. Iron-base metals only
• C. Copper alloys only
• D. All metals

Answer: (B)

Normalizing refines the grain and uniformity of iron-base alloys by heating above the critical temperature and then allowing the metal to air cool. This relies on the iron–carbon phase transformations (austenite forming above the critical temperature and transforming on cooling to fine pearlite), which is specific to ferrous materials. Non-ferrous metals like aluminum and copper don’t undergo the same transformational pathways, so they use different heat-treatments (such as solution treatment and aging for aluminum, or other processes for copper). Therefore, normalization is applicable to iron-base metals only.