The resultant microstructure after normalizing should be

Concept:

Normalizing: 

• It is an annealing treatment in which steels are heated in the austenitic range followed by the air cooling (at higher cooling rates as compared to other annealing processes).
• The heating is performed at least 55°C above the upper critical temperature that is above A3 for hypo eutectoid compositions and above Acm for hypereutectoid compositions.
• It results in fine pearlitic steels are tougher than coarse pearlitic steels obtained by other annealing processes (as cooling rates are low due to furnace cooling).
• It is performed to achieve any of the following purposes:
  • To eliminate coarse-grained microstructure obtained in previous working operations such as rolling and forging.
  • To modify and improve cast dendritic structure and reduce segregation by homogenizing the microstructure.
• Main objective
  • Refine grain size in metal, improve strength and hardness, reduce ductility
  • Remove cold worked stress.
  • Remove dislocations due to hot working.