Effect of Mg–Ti Treatment on Nucleation Mechanism of TiN Inclusions and Ferrite

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

It is a good, interesting and well written paper, deserves to be published as it is

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thanks for your comments.The manuscript has been improved.

Reviewer 2 Report

74-76, How many samples are used to detrmination of Grain Size?

76, explanation about which methodes are used to measure the equiaxial crystal ratio?

91- is it just a coincidence or did you find same result in different area?

110-115- Definition of methods, which used in this Investigation/Figure for example SEM- or TEM-Method?

173- There is insufficient to describe Figure 11, more detail would be better.

181- It would be better to say to “Ta” as “temperature gradient due to the heat flux”

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

-Very interesting results on the refinement of steel

-Good approach to nucleation theory and Bramfitt model

-The study was well put together

-Significant improvement of English is required. In particular, grammar must be improved.

-Authors must be diligent to follow guidelines of measurement units. For example, spaces after number and unit is required, volts are denoted with a capital V etc.

-The introduction did not appear to be exhaustive enough given the topic. I would expect more examples of current literature. A better review of what has been attempted in this particular field would be beneficial. Furthermore, a critical analysis of the shortcomings of current research and areas for improvement is a must.

-The impact of the study as it relates to the steel industry and academia as a whole is required.

-How was the crystal ratio determined in this study?

-What were the number of samples/trials used to determine the grain size and crystal ratio?

-The authors repeatedly mention nucleation ratio in the article. Please explain the definition of nucleation ratio as it is not a familiar term. The reviewer believes that this term may be confused with nucleation rate.

-The authors state that MgO both promotes nucleation and inhibits growth of the resulting grains. Please explain this phenomenon further.

-Overall, the figure caption must be improved. For examples, Figure 2, the caption does not describe each case i.e. a, b, c

-Axis labels are missing for figure 3

-Figure 5 units are missing on the ordinate

-In table 3, the authors state that there is a 45 degree offset from the closed packed directions of Fe and TiN. However, on the images presented in figure 11, no offset/angle can be see in the direction. Specifically, the [010] for TiN appears to be parallel to [1-10] for Fe. This is a large discrepancy and must be revisited. If there is indeed a 45 degree angle between the directions, separate vectors should be used such that the offset is clearly visible.

-Also for table 3, the third row, (100)MA//(100)TiN, what is MA?

-Section 4.2, although it appears that the authors have a good grasp of the solidification/nucleation theory, a significant lack of citations is apparent. The review cannot believe that this section consists of original ideas from the authors as sections of Gruzleski textbooks come to mind.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf