The Interfacial Reaction Traits of (Al63Cu25Fe12)99Ce1 Quasicrystal-Enhanced Aluminum Matrix Composites Produced by Means of Hot Pressing
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors1) Abstract needs to be written again. Try to summarize the scope of this work, the main findings and the main conclusions.
2) Particle-augmented aluminium matrix composites is a very unusual term. The most commonly used term is particle/particulate reinforced aluminium matrix composite (PRAMC). It is highly advised to use the most commonly used terms.
3) In the introduction you claim there are numerous works on PAMCs yet you make a reference to only a few. You need to expand the introduction and include more works on aluminium reinforced by QC particles.
4) Section 2.1 is very brief. What were the raw materials used to make the QC master alloy? How did you turn the vacuum arc melted alloy to powder? What was the sintering atmosphere? What was the sintering temperature step increase?
You need to explain the fabrication procedure in more detail!
5) Why didn`t you try to sinter the composites at higher temperatures? Temperatures as high as 600 C have been employed for PRAMCs.
6) Figure 3, 7, 15, 16. You need to explain in more detail the process parameters corresponding to those figures.
7) How the mechanical properties of Al-QC composites compare to pure Al and Al alloys fabricated by powder metallurgy?
8) What is the effect of different sintering times and temperatures on the phase stability of the QC particulates? What are the induced phase transformations? You need to expand on that and preferebly conduct more XRD runs on different sintering times and temperatures to support and expand the discussion.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authorscoatings-3292384
The authors of the paper investigate the structure and properties of aluminomatrix composite. Composites were produced at different temperatures and holding times, compressive strength, density were measured and the best mode was found. Also analyzed the particles, their composition and distribution. In general it is all interesting, has novelty and well done, but lacks a sense of wholeness of the work. For example, the TEM studies in general do not seem to be harmonized with the work in any way and are even missing in the conclusions. The authors devoted an extensive block to determining the thickness of the reaction, but in the end they got a banal conclusion that exposure time leads to an increase in thickness. How finally this is related to the quality of the composite is not very clear. Perhaps the semantic blocks of the article should be better connected. There are also more specific comments:
1. Need to decipher the term IQC
2. Specifies that the alloy was produced in a vacuum arc melting furnace. How did you get the powder?
3. “Through heat treatment, the alloy containing only the I-phase” - please describe the heat treatment.
4. “With the holding time being long, the volume shrinkage of the Al matrix is large, and the relatively large reinforced particles are subjected to a large shear force when rotating in the matrix, resulting in cracks at the sharp corners of reinforced particles” - no such cracks are observed in the above images. Please provide images of cracks.
5. In the explanation to Figures 4-6 it is not quite clear how exactly you analyze the distribution of particles. Why is the temperature of 490 °C chosen as the optimum temperature? Visually, images 4b, 5b and 6b do not differ at all to conclude about the influence of temperature.
6. “...when the holding time is 30 min, the particle size of reinforcement is moderate and evenly distributed, which is more beneficial for the improvement of the reinforcement effect.” - on what basis is it concluded that this distribution is favorable?
7. You give histograms of particle size distribution in Figure 7 and it is a good tool for analysis. But you should also give a histogram for the original powder so that you can evaluate the change in particle size.
8. Table 1: how was the Reaction layer thickness measured?
9. Figure 11: the axis shows the thickness of reaction layer and the caption under the figure shows the transition layer. What exactly is meant by this? The figure explanations also mention the transition layer. What is meant by it?
10. “Pores form between the agglomerates, contributing to a reduction in densification.” - can you demonstrate these pores?
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsAuthors made a lot of effort to implement the suggested changes and improve the manuscript. This work is now ready for publication.
