Heterogeneous Microstructure-Induced Creep Failure Responses in Various Sub-Zones of Modified 310S Welded Joints
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
- On what basis you marked delta ferrite in Fig.7
- It is not local strain energy but KAM is a local misorientation of grains.
- Composition of laves phase may be given.
- Overall presentation of the paper is not yet improved and English is still poor for reading.
- Importantly, from the fracture morphology, it appears that failure is due to stress relaxation cracking which is well known in this material. Proposed mechanism does not look appropriate.
- Paper should be revised.
- A significant improvement in English is required.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript was interesting from the perspective of careful characterization of the weld microstructure with detailed analysis of each region.
However, the manuscript needs improvement is English word usage, sentence structure and grammar. Careful proofreading can catch many of the minor issues but in some areas more careful reading is necessary to make these improvements.
From a technical perspective the Materials and Testing section needs some attention. In particular the material aspect needs attention, not for what was said but with respect to context. For example, I assume the material is wrought plate but it could be a casting just as easily. This needs to be said as well as the condition from the plate was received from the manufacturer. Taking some additional time on this section will greatly improve the manuscript.
Given that 310S welding prefers not to use a post weld heat treatment, Figure 6 is all that is necessary to know where the tensile and creep failure will occur. Given the welding procedure, C location and distribution as precipitates and C film along grain boundaries becomes critical at elevated temperature during creep as indicated in your characterization analysis. Some additional attention and perspective could be developed and devoted to this aspect. A post-weld heat treatment could moderate the C effect, thereby smoothing out the hardness profile in Figure 6. I know this not the work being done but a lot of the work goes into verifying this, which would suggest performing such a treatment for long-term performance.
It would be effective to show on Figure 3 the mean (or average) creep rupture for base metal 310S (from in-house testing or from the literature) to highlight the debit for creep rupture of the welded plate material. This is mainly for reference and perspective.
The analysis section of the manuscript is very good with careful, well thought out discussion. Other than proofreading for English grammar (and the like) not much needs to be done here.
As an aside, the authors should make sure that all acronyms are defined in the narrative text. There were some instances where this was not done.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
I am happy to note that authors are improving the revised paper. But presentation is still poor. Kindly take help from native speaker.
It looks to me that failure is due to stress relaxation cracking. This this well known in this material. Kindly see some literature.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The manuscript has to be rewritten with extensive English language correction.
The choice of filler wire has to be justified when filler wire of similar composition is available in the market.
The base metal microstructure must be shown and discussed to understand the effect of welding on microstructure and the formation of HAZ region.
Line 265: "The HAZ endure high temperature for the welding process, especially above Ac1." is not correct. The steel selected is an austenitic steel which is not heat-treatable steel than how AC1 and all can be mentioned?
Please study some similar austenitic steel instead of 9Cr steels which are ferritic -martensitic steels.
Author Response
Thank you for your precious opinions, specific response please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
- It looks creep test results need verification. Sudden strain of 7% is not convening with other results.
- English presentation and grammar should be improved.
- Interpretations of results should be improved.
- This manuscript should be rejected in the current form.
Author Response
Thank you for your precious opinions, specific response please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
The manuscript entitled: “Heterogeneous Microstructure Induced Creep failure Re- 2 sponses in Various Sub-zones of modified 310S welded joint” is in line with the Metals journal. It based mainly on laboratory research. The article is well organized, however it requires some minor changes:
- Abstract: please develop all abbreviation used in this part.
- Introduction: please stress the novelty for provided research.
- Discussion: more detailed discussion with up-to-date literature is required.
- COI: lack of information.
- Authors contribution – lack of information.
Author Response
Thank you for your precious opinions, specific response please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The manuscript has to be rewritten in the proper English language.
The justifications given are not explained properly. In response 2, the weld joints 1 and 2 are not defined properly.
In the creep curves, if loading strain is not removed, then it should not be called creep strain.
The whole manuscript is based on 1 single test carried at 238 MPa. Please justify the need for such a high-stress level. This stress is above the yield strength of the material.
Some more creep tests should be carried out below this stress level and then the failure mechanism could be studied.
Reviewer 2 Report
A significant improvement of the submitted revised manuscript is required.
