Mechanical Properties of Refined A356 Alloy in Response to Continuous Rheological Extruded Al-5Ti-0.6C-1.0Ce Alloy Prepared at Different Temperatures
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
1) Include the novelety of current work in the introduction section.
2) Kindly annotate and show the important components in figure 2,5 & 6.
3) Plot holding time was average grain size
4) Comment whether the authors witnessed the presence of Ti-Ce layer formation arounf Ti particles.
5) Add dislocation movement calculations
The sentence formation in articulating the conclusions can be improvised.
Author Response
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Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors presented an experimental work on the microstructure refinement and mechanical properties of A356 alloy, refined by the addition of refiner Al-5Ti-0.6C-1.0Ce alloy obtained through the continuous rheological extrusion process at different high temperatures. The present research work had particular focus on the grain size, morphology and carbide precipitates effects in the microstructure and the attained mechanical properties of the A356 grain refined alloy.
However, no review, comments and main results on the extruded profile of A356 alloy is presented.
Please correct for better reading clarity, improvements and better review on A356 alloy:
1. Abstract, line 11, please correct “The microstructure is an important factor…”. Also, line 12, “In this experiment, the refiner Al-5Ti-0.6C-1.0Ce master alloys…”. Also, line 23, “…with the Al-Ti-C-Ce preparation temperature…”.
2. Materials, pg.3, line 80, please correct “…the preparation of refiner Al-Ti-C-Ce alloy… “. Also, line 81, “…and the refinement of A356 by the Al-Ti-C-Ce alloy.”. Also, correct “Table1. Chemical compositions of refiner Al-5Ti-0.6C-1.0Ce (wt.%)”.
3. Table 1. Please include the names M1, M2, M3 and M4 in the table.
4. Materials and Methods, pg.3, please inform the percentage of the refiner Al-Ti-C-Ce alloy added into the A356 alloy.
5. Materials, pg.4, line 99, correct “…the preheated disk shape and cylindrical molds…”. Also, line 105, correct “The refinement effect of the refiner Al-Ti-C-Ce…”.
6. Fig.2, please correct title “…refined A356 alloy by the continuous rheological extrusion (CRE) Al-Ti-C-Ce alloy…”.
7. Results, pg.6, line 134, please correct “…the addition of refiners M1, M2, …”. Also, line 136, please correct “The refinement effects in the A356 alloy by…”.
8. Results, pg.7, please correct “Fig. 3 Grain size of A356 alloy without and with the addition of refiners M1 (850 oC), M2 (950 oC), M3 (1050 oC) and M4 (1150 oC).”
9. Results, pg.9, please correct “Fig. 5 SEM images of Al-Ti-C-Ce refiner alloy…”. Also, pg.12, “Fig. 7 Length of eutectic Si in the T6-A356 alloys…”. Also, line 193, please correct “…disrupted to form needles or rounded rod-like structure, as seen in Fig.7, but…”.
10. Results, pg.14, line 250, please correct “Fig. 10 shows the surface fracture morphology from tensile tests of T6-A356 alloy with the M1, M2, M3 and M4 refiner additions.” Also, please include in the reference the author Curry [39].
11. Results, pg.15, please correct “Fig. 10 Tensile test surface fractures of T6-A356 alloy with the M1, M2, M3 and M4 refiner additions…”.
12. Conclusion, pg.16, line 268, please correct “In this paper, a new Al-Ti-C-Ce grain refiner alloy was…”. Also, line 277, “3. Al-Ti-C-Ce grain refiner addition…”.
Please improve English grammar and use passive voice.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Dear authors,
I rate your work as very good and stimulating for future research. But to make it even better, please add the following clarifications to the text of the paper:
- The title of the paper is unclear and does not give a precise description of the relationship between the alloys A356 and Al-5Ti-0.6C-1.0Ce. Only later, after a detailed reading of the introductory chapter, it becomes clear that the Al-5Ti-0.6C-1.0Ce alloy is used for refining the A356 alloy. I suggest you consider supplementing the title, e.g.
"Response of Mechanical Properties of A356 Alloy to Continuous Rheological Extrusion after refining with Al-5Ti-0.6C-1.0Ce Alloy Prepared at Different Temperatures"
- In the first column in Table 1, I suggest that you add the master alloy designations (M1 to M4) along with the alloy preparation temperature - On page 4, lines 100 to 102 in the description of the heat treatment, specify the method of cooling the alloy after processing at 540 oC/4 h. Is the sample immediately transferred from the electro-resistant aging furnace or is it cooled to 20 oC in water or air, and only then heated to 170 oC/5h? How is the cooling from 170 oC to room temperature? - In Figure 3, do not display the grain size with integer values and move the marks even higher above the top of the cone - Can some variables from equation (1) be related to the conditions in your alloy extrusion experiment? D but the addition of Ce affects the number of germs (embryos) of TiC crystallization? I suggest that you comment in more detail on the influence of the Al-5Ti-0.6C-1.0Ce alloy preparation temperature on the TiC nucleation rate - Your proposal for the continuation of research and development of the A356 alloy is missing from the Conclusion.
Sincerely
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
