Properties of Ni-B/B Composite Coatings Produced by Chemical Reduction

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

-More descriptions and discussions of Fig. 3 should be added in the manuscript.

-How did the authors calculate the hardness using indentation tests? The related calculation method should be given in the manuscript.

-The reviewer cannot find cracks in the scratched surface of Fig. 9. The enlarged images of the cracks should be given in the manuscript.

-The curves of load-penetration depth should under different conditions should be given.

-The presentation quality of Figs. 4, 7 and 10 should be improved.

-The unit of Fig. 7 should be added in the figure.

-The following paper also investigate the material properties using scratch test, which is related to your work. The authors can refer to it in the manuscript.

Understand anisotropy dependence of damage evolution and material removal during nanoscratch of MgF2 single crystals. International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, 2023, 5, 015101.

-The conclusions of the manuscript should be improved.

Minor editing of English language required

Author Response

Dear reviewer,
Thank you for review, below our answers:

• the informations about calculation of hardness have been added
• the enlarged images of the cracks have been added
• the quality of images has been improved 
• the units have been added in figure 
• the paper has been used as a reference 
• the conclusions have been improved

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear Authors,

Based on your research work, some of the following points are required to improve the quality of the manuscript.

How do ensure the coating thickness of the composite materials?

Detailed XRD measurement is required before and after composite materials.

How do you ensure the wear and corrosion resistance of the composite product?

Author Response

Dear reviewer,
Thank you for review, below our answers:

• the thickness of the coatings has been measured using microscope (arrows with value were added in figure)
• we added xrd pattern of base matterial
• the tribological tests were carried out using the ball on disc method, electrochemical corrosion tests were conducted by potentiodynamic method

Reviewer 3 Report

1- In the abstract section of the study, details related to materials and methods have been provided. I recommend omitting some of the less significant aspects of these details. Instead, the innovative aspect of the study should be emphasized. The obtained results should highlight which gap in the literature they address.

2- The last paragraph of the introduction on page 2 gives details of the study. The advantages of Ni-B/B coating and the alternatives to other coatings are also mentioned. 

3- The coating process given in Section 2.1 should be explained both visually and with more detailed information. The information provided in this section is not sufficient for the reader.

4- What kind of device is the T11? Is it an internationally recognized and calibrated device? Visual and technical specifications should be included.

5-It is expected that both B and O peaks should be visible in the diffraction pattern given in Figure 2. Additionally, it's essential to clarify whether a point analysis or an area analysis was conducted.

6-It would be beneficial to display the coating thickness measurements in Figure 3 both using measurement arrows and numerical values.

7-Ra results given in Table 5 have not been sufficiently discussed. The variation in the concentration of boron has likely contributed to the reduction in surface roughness. A more in-depth analysis and discussion of the reasons behind this effect should be provided to better understand the relationship between boron concentration and surface roughness.

8-The term "HIT" provided in Table 5 should be specified for the type of hardness it represents. Additionally, an explanation should be given as to whether "KH" denotes Knoop hardness. All abbreviations used in the study should be clearly defined, allowing readers to better understand the terms and methods employed in your research.

9-In Figure 8, the representation of images (a), (b), (c), and (d) should be indicated in the figure caption.

10-The reasons behind the decrease in the coefficient of friction with increasing boron concentration should be discussed in the last paragraph of page 10.

11-Providing only images of the scratch test in Figure 9 is not sufficient. Results showing the variations in load and depth during the test should also be included.

Considering the mentioned topics above, the study should be revised. After making the necessary revisions and additions, the article should be reviewed again to correct any deficiencies. This way, the paper will be presented in a more robust and complete manner.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,
Thank you for review, below our answers:

• the abstract section has been improved  
• section 2.1 has been improved
• the information about T11 divice have been added (visual and technical)
• the arrows and values have been added in figure 
• the abbreviations have been defined 
• the captions have been corrected
• part about tribology results have been improved

Reviewer 4 Report

figure 8. it needs to be marked what is a), what b) and so on.  The same with figure 9. And one more about the Figure 9: in presented form the informativeness is very low. It is better to show specific segments of scratch path, such as cohesive cracks. Where they are: in scratch or in edges of scratch, and so on.

Citation: "The embedding of boron powder particles into the Ni-B matrix reduces the direct contact be-tween the ball and the matrix material, which leads to less wear of the coating" (lines 302-304). Such statements, I think excuse me, are just a nice play on words. If you insert another element into an existing matric, that element becomes part of the that matric. How then to understand that "...boron powder particles.... reduces the direct contact be-tween the ball and the matrix material"? maybe it can be said differently?

The results of the tribological test should be described in more detail. In addition to providing only wear track width and FC it would be good to show what kind of trace there is: whether there were traces of an adhesive nature of wear, has the coating worn off, how has the roughness changed. How much the ball was worn?  Because, the presented images (fig. 8) can be treated in any way.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,
Thank you for review, below our answers:

• the captions and images have been improved 
• part about tribology results have been improved

Reviewer 5 Report

Authors evaluated the properties of Ni-B/B composit coatings produced by chemical reduction. Mechanical and tribological properties are compared with Ni-B. 

There are some minor things should be modified. 

1. Fig 4 seems to be a duplicate as the same data is explained in Table. 2

2. Is there any test results of friction test? I recommend to add the average value of the test results of friction, wear, and others. 

3. Authors should mention how the width of wear is measured? especially the edge lines of width. The variation could be bigger if the standard of edge line is changed. Also, wear depth is not considered for the comparison in tribological aspect? Authors should use the average values. 

4. The notations in Fig 10 should be the same as in Table 7. 

Author Response

Dear reviewer,
Thank you for review, below our answers:

• the duplicated figure has been removed 
• the average values of the test results have been added 
• part about tribology results have been improved
• the notations come from the software included with the device

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The revised manuscript can be accepted

Reviewer 3 Report

The authors have made the expected revisions. The manuscript is acceptable in this form.