Experimental Procedures of Accelerated Aging and Evaluation of Effectiveness of Nanostructured Products for the Protection of Volterra (Italy) Panchina Stone

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The research focused on the evaluation of the effectiveness of application of nanostructured products on Volterra calcarenite stone, analyzing different degradation on the studied lithotype by means of accelerated ageing tests.

It constitutes a very interesting topic deserving in depth-study and publication in the scientific literature.  However, from this reviewer's point of view, this paper needs a considerable work to be accepted for the publication:

-    in the Introduction section there is no accurate bibliographic research on the others research conducted on similar topics. For this reason, the authors fail to show the innovative points of the study with respect to the state of the art of the scientific bibliography. This reviewer suggests to expand with more literature data;

-     in the title must be put the capital letters to Volterra and Italy;

-     Table 1 must be formatted (it is joined to the text in the pdf file);

-   in accelerated aging, the combined effects of temperature and radiation should be considered. This aspect was discussed by many authors in the literature. The authors are asked to evaluate this aspect as well, carry out the necessary analyzes/tests and discuss the results even in the case of the combined effect of temperature and radiation;

-     provide more detail on applied innovative products (section 2.2);

-     caption of Figure 2 and 3 must be resumed;

-  results must be discussed with respect to others literature data. This aspect is completely missing. There is no a discussion of the results;

-     please no split Table 2 into 2 pages.

 

 

Moreover, please improve English in all the text.

 

Author Response

-    in the Introduction section there is no accurate bibliographic research on the others research conducted on similar topics. For this reason, the authors fail to show the innovative points of the study with respect to the state of the art of the scientific bibliography. This reviewer suggests to expand with more literature data; DONE: the bibliographic research and fonts have been added

-     in the title must be put the capital letters to Volterra and Italy; DONE

-     Table 1 must be formatted (it is joined to the text in the pdf file);  DONE

-   in accelerated aging, the combined effects of temperature and radiation should be considered. This aspect was discussed by many authors in the literature. The authors are asked to evaluate this aspect as well, carry out the necessary analyzes/tests and discuss the results even in the case of the combined effect of temperature and radiation; THIS IS IN OUR PLAN AND IT HAS BEEN MENTIONED IN THE CONCLUSION AS NEXT STEP.

-     provide more detail on applied innovative products (section 2.2); DONE, EVEN WE CANNOT SAY MORE FOR INDUSTRIAL IPR PROTECTION.

-     caption of Figure 2 and 3 must be resumed; DONE

-  results must be discussed with respect to others literature data. This aspect is completely missing. There is no a discussion of the results; DONE

-     please no split Table 2 into 2 pages. DONE

Reviewer 2 Report

I have accepted your manuscript entitled "Experimental procedures of accelerated aging and evaluation of effectiveness of nanostructured products for the protection of the Volterra (Italy) panchina stone".

Congratulations.

Author Response

Many thanks for your appreciation.

Kind Regards

Reviewer 3 Report

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of the application of nanostructured products (silica and fluorosilanes) on Volterra calcarenite stone and to define the experimental conditions and procedures of accelerated aging tests, able to simulate different degradation on the studied lithotype.

The subject is fascinating, able to decipher the secrets of the degradation processes of calcarenite and propose new consolidating products to repair and regenerate the cultural heritage.

However, the authors should revise the paper, due to some lack observed inside it.

- the instruction is too short and not enough documented

- the references are not sufficient and they are too old. The list should be renewed with the newer ones. 

- the quality of the diagrams and figures is too low. Is quite difficult to identify the contents and at SEM is not visible the main structures present in the images.

- the conclusions are too short, too short, unclear and poorly structured, and it should be revised. 

In conclusion, I suggest to the authors properly revise the entire paper, before resubmitting it.

Author Response

- the instruction is too short and not enough documented DONE: THE SECTION HAS BEEN EXPANDED WITH APPROPRIATE REFERENCES

- the references are not sufficient and they are too old. The list should be renewed with the newer ones. DONE: THE SECTION HAS BEEN EXPANDED WITH MORE RECENT REFERENCES

- the quality of the diagrams and figures is too low. Is quite difficult to identify the contents and at SEM is not visible the main structures present in the images. DONE

- the conclusions are too short, too short, unclear and poorly structured, and it should be revised.  DONE: THE SECTION HAS BEEN EXPANDED

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

-

Reviewer 3 Report

I appreciate that the authors corrected and added new data in order to improve the quality of this paper.

Under such circumstances, I suggest accepting this paper for publication in the present version.