Annealing (metallurgy) brass can be cooled slowly in air, or quickly by quenching in water, unlike ferrous metals, such as steel, which must be cooled slowly to anneal. In this fashion, the metal is softened and prepared for further work—such as shaping, stamping, or forming. Annealing occurs by the diffusion of atoms within a solid material, so that the material progresses towards its equilibrium state. Heat increases the rate of diffusion by providing the energy needed to break bonds. The movement of atoms has the effect of redistributing and eradicating the dislocations in metals and (to a lesser extent) in ceramics. This
Glass-coated wire and various alloy compositions. It has even proved possible to produce amorphous metal ("glassy metal") cores because the cooling rate achievable by this process can be of the order of 1,000,000 kelvins per second. Glass-coated wire receives all of its material properties from its microstructure. The microstructure in turn receives its properties from the rate at which the wire is cooled. The magnetic properties of glass-coated wires also differ greatly from the properties of amorphous wires and cold-drawn wires due to the difference of the internal stresses that are occurring in the wire. When choosing a metal for the wire