Evolution of Inclusions and Cleanliness in Ti-Bearing IF Steel Produced via the BOF–LF–RH–CC Process

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

1. Carefully read a whole paper and revise grammar error
2. "Table 2. Chemical composition of Ti-bearing IF steel", what is the analyzer you have to state
3. "Table 3. Parameters of experimental heats during RH and tundish processes." How could you evaluate the densities ?
4. "Figure 2. Number and size of different inclusions in Heat 1 and Heat 2 during RH treatment and 117
   tundish processes" You must have different indications between Al2O3 and Al2O3/TiOx in figure.
5. Conclusions should be modified to be shorten

Author Response

1. Carefully read a whole paper and revise grammar error

R: Thank you for your advices. We have read the paper very carefully and found several errors in this paper. They have been highlighted in red, and please find them in the revised manuscript.

2."Table 2. Chemical composition of Ti-bearing IF steel", what is the analyzer you have to state

R: Thank you for your question. We apologize for missing this thing, and it has been amended in line 83: “The chemical compositions were obtained with ICP-AES”.

3. "Table 3. Parameters of experimental heats during RH and tundish processes." How could you evaluate the densities?

R: Thank you for your advices. We should write much more carefully, and we have made this supplement in line 108: “The ND of inclusions in Table 3 was also analyzed by the ASPEX method, and calculated by the Eq. (1)”.

4. "Figure 2. Number and size of different inclusions in Heat 1 and Heat 2 during RH treatment and tundish processes" You must have different indications between Al₂O₃ and Al₂O₃·TiO_x in figure.

R: Thank you for your advice. The two original figures have been replaced by the two new figures in line 116, and the indications between Al₂O₃ and Al₂O₃·TiO_x in figures are more obvious.

5. Conclusions should be modified to be shorten

R: Thank you for your suggestions. Our original expressions were a little tedious definitely. The conclusions have been shorten from about 350 words to about 290 words.

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper deals with the IF steel produced via the via the Basic Oxygen Furnace to Continuous Casting process in Pan-476 gang Group Xichang Steel and Vanadium Co., Ltd, and presents the evolution of inclusions in the long  process from Ruhatahl-Hausen to tundish, and evaluate the influence of reoxidation process and the relevant process parameters on the cleanliness of molten steel.

Abstract structure: the content and structure of the abstract is convincingly presented.

Introduction of the article is clear to me.

Calculation and experiment are convincingly described and help to understand the research and the results.

Materials and Methods, Results and Discussions and Conclusions corresponds to the conceptual architecture of the paper.

Pictures: adequate number, presentation clearly and very good quality.

Adequate list of the literature cited in the references.

In my opinion, revisions are not required - recommendation: Accept.

Author Response

Thank you for your recognition of our manuscript including Abstract structure, Introduction, Experiment, Pictures, References and so on. We will keep up the good work.

Reviewer 3 Report

This is a very well prepared manuscript. It is technically relevant and novel, well organized, consisting of significant amount of theoretical and experimental analyses, and conclusions are robust and useful. The topic of inclusions in steel are timely as materials are used for applications requiring stress resistance greater than usual as engineering design permits working closer to failure points.

One suggestion for revisions is for the authors to read about a recent failure analysis conducted by the Mercedes Formula 1 team. They had an unexpected engine failure, and after much analysis concluded that an inclusions of tens of microns in size caused the failure. They then worked with the steel supplier to reduce the chance of such inclusions, and had to re-design that part of the engine to be more tolerant for inclusions. This an perhaps other examples can be added to the introduction, where the motivation for the work is the only weaker part of the manuscript.

A small correction, Doi should either be doi or DOI in the reference list.

Author Response

Thank you very much for your praise for our manuscript. We are really sorry that we don’t know much about the Formula 1, and we have searched for a long time about the recent engine failure analysis conducted by the Mercedes Formula 1 team. It’s a pity that we couldn’t find it. However, we have made some amendments in line 36: “The engine failure caused by non-metallic inclusions of tens of microns is a typical problem in automotive”. Additionally, the format of references has also been revised.