Heating is the first step in a heat-treating process. Many alloys change structure when they are heated to specific temperatures. The structure of an alloy at room temperature can be either a mechanical mixture, a solid solution, or a combination solid solution and mechanical mixture.

A mechanical mixture can be compared to concrete. Just as the sand and gravel are visible and held in place by the cement. The elements and compounds in a mechanical mixture are clearly visible and are held together by a matrix of base metal. A solid solution is when two or more metals are absorbed, one into the other, and form a solution. When an alloy is in the form of a solid solution, the elements and compounds forming the metal are absorbed into each other in much the same way that salt is dissolved in a glass of water. The separate elements forming the metal cannot be identified even under a microscope. A metal in the form of a mechanical mixture at room temperature often goes into a solid solution or a partial solution when it is heated. Changing the chemical composition in this way brings about certain predictable changes in grain size and structure. This leads to the second step in the heat treating process: soaking.