The Zinc-Rich Corner of the Fe-Si-Sn-Zn Quaternary System at 450 °C
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This paper describes experimentally (OM, SEM-EDS, XRD) the phase relationships in isothermal sections at 450 oC of the Fe-Si-Sn-Zn system with the Zn composition of 70 and 93 at.% and brings valuable information for this system. Paper is well supported by experiments and data are correctly interpreted. Information presented in the paper may contribute to study of mentioned system in future.
Some corrections need to be done in the paper before publication:
Page 3, line 72: it is: „All specimen“ it should be: „All specimens“
Fig.3,4,7,9,10: X-ray patterns are described by too small characters, which are not readable. Need to be improved
P.8, l.147-149: Description of Fig.8 is confusing. Alloy A11 (A12) contains 4 phases in the figure, but 3 phases in corresponding text. Need to be improved.
Fig. 12: Red lines are hardly visible. Need to be drawn thicker or drawn by other red color.
Ref.8: Nor name of author „Sandelin RW“, neither name of journal „Wire Wire Production“ are found in Web of Science. Need to be specified more in details.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
The comments have been carefully taken into account and new revised submissions have been uploaded. The responses are as follows,
Point 1: Page 3, line 72: it is: “All specimen” it should be: “All specimens”.
Response 1: Thank you for your comments, we are very sorry for our incorrect writing, the spelling and syntax errors have been checked and corrected.
Point 2: Fig.3,4,7,9,10: X-ray patterns are described by too small characters, which are not readable. Need to be improved.
Response 2: Following the this comment, Fig.3,4,7,9,10: X-ray patterns have been added to new characters to mark out the phases in alloys.
Point 3: P.8, l.147-149: Description of Fig.8 is confusing. Alloy A11 (A12) contains 4 phases in the figure, but 3 phases in corresponding text. Need to be improved.
Response 3: Thank you for pointing this out. As following, the corrected description is added in the manuscript.
The microstructures of Alloys A11 (Figure 8) and A12 are similar. The result of EDS indicated the white β-Sn and locked η-Zn coexist with dark α-Fe phases in the matrix of the gray Γ1 phase. Similar to Alloy A1, η-Zn and β-Sn formed from the liquid phase (Liq.) during the cooling. So Alloy A11 corresponded to the Liq. + Γ1 + α-Fe three-phase equilibrium state at 450 °C.
Point 4: Fig. 12: Red lines are hardly visible. Need to be drawn thicker or drawn by other red color.
Response 4: In this revised paper, we have thickened the red line in Figure 12 and added gray shading in the four-phase areas in order to describe more information in the quaternary phase diagram.
Point 5: Ref.8: Nor name of author, Sandelin RW“, neither name of journal, Wire Wire Production” are found in Web of Science. Need to be specified more in details.
Response 5: Thank you for your comments, we have deleted the Ref.8 in the revised paper, and added another one instead for its better representative.
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript brings new and original data, which are scientifically relevant and needed for both research and industry, as shown in the literature review. Before the paper could be published, it needs to solve several points:
The language has to be improved, especially in Introduction and Literature review (e.g. "The impurity of Si contains on the galvanized layer..." or "...in the anti-corrosion of materials"). XRD patterns are not indexed clearly. It is usual to add the labels of individual peaks to assign them to the particular phase. Quantification of the amounts of individual phases has to be carried out. It could be done by Rietveld refinement of XRD patterns or by image analysis of the SEM micrographs (or better by both).Author Response
Response to Reviewer 2 Comments
The comments have been carefully taken into account and new revised submissions have been uploaded. The responses are as follows,
Point 1: The language has to be improved, especially in Introduction and Literature review (e.g. "The impurity of Si contains on the galvanized layer..." or "...in the anti-corrosion of materials").
Response 1: Thanks for the referee’s kind advice. The revised paper was carefully polished and checked.
Point 2: XRD patterns are not indexed clearly. It is usual to add the labels of individual peaks to assign them to the particular phase. Quantification of the amounts of individual phases has to be carried out. It could be done by Rietveld refinement of XRD patterns or by image analysis of the SEM micrographs (or better by both).
Response 2: Phase composition is of great importance in quaternary system, it is necessary to have a clearly state of the XRD patterns. We have added labels of individual peaks to particular phase in XRD patterns. In the general study of phase diagram measurement, the XRD pattern is used for phase identification, and quantification of the amounts of individual phases nearly has no effect on the phase relationship, so it did not carry out quantification analysis for this experiment.
Reviewer 3 Report
The present paper deals with the study of Fe-Si-Sn-Zn quaternary system. In particular, the authors prepared several samples, with different compositions, and then analysed them by means of optical microscopy, scanning electronic microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffractometry, in order to identify the phases of the proposed quaternary systems. The topic of this work is interesting and relevant, the text is well structured; therefore, this article can be accepted for publication after the following revisions are carried out:
The novelty of the paper should be better highlighted in the introduction. The standard deviation, or a similar statistical parameter, obtained in the experimental measurements should be reported. The study of Zn system has been the subject of studies and research for years by many researchers, but the bibliography, presented by the authors, appears quite poor in this sense. Relevant contributions are lacking. See, for instance, Intermetallic phase kinetic formation and thermal crack development in galvanized DCI (2019) Frattura ed Integrita Strutturale, 13 (48), pp. 740-747. DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.48.67” and Influence of silicon on the α-Fe/Γ interface of hot-dip galvanized steels (2006) Surface and Coatings Technology, 200 (18-19), pp. 5277-5281. DOI: 10.1016/j.surfcoat.2005.06.017”
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 3 Comments
The comments have been carefully taken into account and new revised submissions have been uploaded. The responses are as follows,
Point 1: The novelty of the paper should be better highlighted in the introduction.
Response 1: For the novelty of the paper, the following description is added in the introduction.
Adding Sn in a Zinc bath has effect on microstructure of hot-dip galvanizing Si-containing steels, but its mechanism is not clear. Phase relationship of the Fe-Si-Sn-Zn quaternary system can provide useful information about the formation of coating microstructures at galvanizing temperature.
Point 2: The standard deviation, or a similar statistical parameter, obtained in the experimental measurements should be reported.
Response 2: The standard deviation obtained in the experimental measurements has been added in the Table 2.
Point 3: The study of Zn system has been the subject of studies and research for years by many researchers, but the bibliography, presented by the authors, appears quite poor in this sense. Relevant contributions are lacking. See, for instance, Intermetallic phase kinetic formation and thermal crack development in galvanized DCI (2019) Frattura ed Integrita Strutturale, 13 (48), pp. 740-747. DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.48.67” and Influence of silicon on the α-Fe/Γ interface of hot-dip galvanized steels (2006) Surface and Coatings Technology, 200 (18-19), pp. 5277-5281. DOI: 10.1016/j.surfcoat.2005.06.017”
Response 3: Thank you for your comments. The suggested references have been added in the revised manuscript.
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The paper has been corrected sufficiently. All comments were accepted or explained and I accept the explanation.
