Annealing is a process used in materials science and metalworking to heat and then cool a material to alter its physical and mechanical properties. By heating a material to a specific temperature and then slowly cooling it, internal stresses are relieved, grain structures are refined, and material properties such as hardness, ductility, and strength can be improved. Annealing is commonly used in the manufacturing of metals, ceramics, and glass to improve their machinability, formability, and overall performance. It is also utilized in the field of quantum annealing in computer science, where it is used to optimize solutions to complex optimization problems.