Corrosion of Cast Aluminum Alloys: A Review

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Corrosion of Cast Aluminum Alloys: A Review is very interesting review paper.

Some minor corrections are required:

Line 21-23, line 40: Errors in formatting

Line 126, 127: Although numerous studies have been carried out to determine the effect of the modifying Elements such as….on the mechanical properties

Line 141: EIS Test (full Name) electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

Line 193:  an addition of 1.44% rare earths. Which rare Elements are added (heavy rare earth Elements; light rare Elements? What is the role of rare earth Elements?

Line 272: marginally better corrosion behavior in microstructures with coarse grain size. What is coarse grain size?

Line 330: that the higher cooling rate led to a higher proportion of solid solution for the HMC castings method. What is the value of the higher colling rate? What is minimal required cooling rate?

Line 431: SLS layer conducts to heterogeneity of properties in SSM components. Please to write full Name of SLS and SSM.
 

Author Response

We would like to thank to the anonymous reviewer for his/her positive comments that will help to address the key issues that you point out and perform a best version of this manuscript. We hope that this new revised version of the manuscript can be published in Metals. We send you the amended manuscript with all the changes highlighted in yellow for a better understanding and location of them.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear Authors,

The manuscript is a review of aluminum alloys corrosion properties. It is mostly focusing on the aluminum casting alloys, but also several surface treatment techniques were also mentioned by authors. The work is well structured and attractive for potential readers. However, I have several remarks which should be considered:

1. It is looks like you have missed Tables 1 and 2 in the paper, please check again.
2. You have mentioned interesting results on intermetallics effect on Al casting alloys by Dobkowska [4]. Please ask the permission and add images of the microstructures of the alloy.
3. The main purpose of the Sr addition to Al alloys is the refinement of the microstructure which affect the obtained mechanical properties. As it is derived from the paper, Sr is added in order to improve the corrosion resistance of the alloy. Please, highlight the main reason of the Sr addition and then, discuss its corrosion properties.
4. The same remark as 2 for alloys obtained by HPDS, you have to add some microstructures, the references used in the work may work for it.
5. Please improve contrast of Figure 5.
6. On Figure 6 nothing can be detected. Please, check and change to the high resolution image.
7. Please improve contrast of Figure 10.
8. One of the most promising surface treatment techniques is missing in section 5. It is PEO in molten salt: Comparison of plasma electrolytic oxidation coatings on Al alloy created in aqueous solution and molten salt electrolytes, Surf. Coat. Technol. 2018, 344, 590-595;  An investigation of oxide coating synthesized on an aluminum alloy by plasma electrolytic oxidation in molten salt, Applied Sciences 2017, 7 (9), 889-898.
9. References list must be extensively revised. In some cases you use pp. for the pages, in some only the first page; reference 71 is not appropriate; in some cases you list all authors, in some only the first one; in reference 102 some not required symbols are presented.

Author Response

We would like to thank to the anonymous reviewer for his/her positive comments that will help to address the key issues that you point out and perform a best version of this manuscript. We hope that this new revised version of the manuscript can be published in Metals. We send you the amended manuscript with all the changes highlighted in yellow for a better understanding and location of them.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

In my opinion, the biggest added value of the submitted manuscript is review of corrosion mechanisms for various aluminum cast alloys.

 The manuscript is worth publishing, however some minor improvements are required.

To make the review more attractive, please improve the artwork:

Fig 1 b - please make bigger fonts, especially where corrosion area is pointed out

Fig. 3 - make it bigger or add own text fields

Fig. 6 - please make the scale bars bigger - it is unable to read the size of the marker - totally repulsive to the reader. Add own markers and type their size

Fig. 16 - also make font bigger

After those minor, but crucial corrections, the paper is acceptable for publishing in MDPI's Metals.

Author Response

We would like to thank to the anonymous reviewer for his/her positive comments that will help to address the key issues that you point out and perform a best version of this manuscript. We hope that this new revised version of the manuscript can be published in Metals. We send you the amended manuscript with all the changes highlighted in yellow for a better understanding and location of them.

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear Authors,

Thank you for considering most of my comments. However, references must be reorganized again.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer
Thank you very much for the new comments to improve our work. We have reviewed the references in detail to avoid errors so we now consider that they are correctly written.
Best regards