Stress Relieving is performed on steel parts after the manufacturing process in an effort to minimize internal stresses, which may contribute to fracturing. Internal stresses can be caused by processes such as hot rolling, welding, shearing, or gas cutting. These processes can all contribute to fracturing.


Stress Relieving helps to maintain the hardness of the metal while reducing the risk of future dimensional distortions and fractures during final finishing. It also serves to extend the useful lifespan of some metal parts.

The Stress Relieving process involves heating the steel part to a temperature below the critical re-crystallization point and maintaining a uniform “soaking” temperature for a sustained period of time. After the heating process, the steel product is cooled slowly, which provides the opportunity for entrapped gases to dissipate, allowing better protection against fracturing.

Utilizing Stress Relieving can drastically decrease the number of parts failing during machining. Unlike other techniques such as annealing and normalizing, Stress Relieving does not change the properties of the metal.