Mechanical and Thermal Neutron Absorbing Properties of B4C/Aluminum Alloy Composites Fabricated by Stir Casting and Hot Rolling Process
, Ilguk Jo 3, Sang-Kwan Lee 1, Yangdo Kim 2, Sang-Bok Lee 1,* and Seungchan Cho 1,*Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The reviewer comments of the paper «Mechanical and thermal neutron absorbing properties of B4C/aluminum alloy composites fabricated by stir casting and hot rolling process»
- Reviewer
The authors presented an article «Mechanical and thermal neutron absorbing properties of B4C/aluminum alloy composites fabricated by stir casting and hot rolling process». However, there are several points in the article that require further explanation.
Comment 1:
Introduction.
Needs to be completed.
Add an article to the introduction: doi: 10.1016/j.msea.2019.02.016
Mark clearly the "white" spots. That is, what has not been previously done by researchers. Formulate a clear and understandable purpose of the article. After the goal, briefly list what has been done in each section.
Comment 2:
- Experimental Procedure
Specify for all devices and measuring installations (Manufacturer, city, country).
Are all figures original? If not you need appropriate citations and permissions.
Comment 3:
It will be useful to add a section of Nomenclature in which to sign all the physical quantities and abbreviations encountered in the article. There are many physical quantities in the text and such a section will help to find the description of the necessary element.
For example,
AMCs : Aluminum matrix composites
etc.
Comment 4:
Conclusions.
What is the difference from previous work in this area? Show practical relevance. What is the difference from other researchers? What are the quantitative and qualitative research results obtained?
Conclusions should reflect the purpose of the article.
Use the format:
- Conclusions 1
- Conclusions 2
- Etc.
The article is interesting. Authors should carefully study the comments and make improvements to the article step by step. After major changes can an article be considered for publication in the "Metals".
Author Response
The authors would like to express our wholehearted thanks to both the Editor and Reviewer for giving the valuable suggestions/comments regarding our paper. These reviews have been very helpful in enhancing our paper. Based on the comments and suggestions, the revised manuscript was prepared. Please check the attached file.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
In the paper is presented an analysis of the mechanical and thermal properties of neutron absorption for B4C / aluminum composites
From the analysis of the information presented in the article, I found the following:
- The paper presents a series of results that could be of interest to the scientific community;
- The introduction should be improved. Thus, other bibliographic sources must be considered. The last part of the introduction must be completed with a more detailed presentation of the structure of the paper.
- There is no clear research methodology.
- It must be mentioned why tests were performed in which the volume ratio of B4C was set between 5-30%;
- The rolling technology is presented very succinctly and other information on the regulated technological parameters should be presented, such as the degree of deformation, the rolling speed, etc.!
- Macroscopic images must also be submitted for test specimens obtained by casting or rolling:
- The section referring to the determination of mechanical properties must be detailed, in order to present the equipment used in tests and the type of samples;
- the resolution of the figures in which the structures of the materials are presented needs to be improved;
- I could not identify the scientific novelty brought by the results presented in the paper. In this sense, the discussion part must be completed with some information that will show the novelty brought by the research in the paper compared to other research in the field. The whole part of the discussion relates to another paper of the authors [22].
- in the final part of the conclusions, the future research directions must be presented.
Author Response
The authors would like to express our wholehearted thanks to both the Editor and Reviewer for giving the valuable suggestions/comments regarding our paper. These reviews have been very helpful in enhancing our paper. Based on the comments and suggestions, the revised manuscript was prepared. Please check the attached file.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Dear Authors,
Thank you for the article on the important area of composites for the nuclear industry. Please, find my comments below.
1) The article has a non-standard structure that can be easily improved on a classic IMRaD. Lines 221-231 describe the method and suitable for chapter 2.
2) Table 1 does not appear anywhere in the text. What method of determining the chemical composition?
3) Devices described in lines 95-100 should be detailed as in 64-68.
4) Information about the initial amount of carbide during casting appears in the abstract and results, not in the description of the casting in chapter 2. How was its amount measured?
5) Lines 122-124 and 130: from how many photos/measurements were the percentages calculated? Which stereological method was used?
6) Indexing TEM spot diffraction patterns in Fig. 5 would be appreciated.
7) Little to no discussion in 3.1 and 3.3, in 3.2 is only based on reference 22, which refers to the authors' results from testing the same composites.
Author Response
The authors would like to express our wholehearted thanks to both the Editor and Reviewer for giving the valuable suggestions/comments regarding our paper. These reviews have been very helpful in enhancing our paper. Based on the comments and suggestions, the revised manuscript was prepared. Please check the attached file.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors have improved the article according to the comments. The article can now be published.
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors revised their manuscript according to my suggestions. Thus the manuscript can be accepted for publication.
Reviewer 3 Report
I have no comments
