Color Change and Physical-Mechanical Properties of Polystyrene-Impregnated Glulam from Three Tropical Fast-Growing Wood Species

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Authors,

I found your paper interesting but there are some comments and suggestions that I strongly believe will improve its quality.

Comments and suggestions:

- Introduction: Please clearly state the novelty of your work.

- Page 3, line 110: “The logs were cut into flat-sawn laminas with a size of 1.7 cm by 6 cm by 50 or 80 cm in thickness, width, and length, respectively.” It is not clear why authors used laminas with different length 50 and 80 cm. Please explain. Especially since, the “testing was done through a single point load on the span of a sample with a distance of 70 cm between the points of support of the test piece” (page 4, lines 149-151).

- Page 3, lines 122-123: What was the reason to wrap each lamina with aluminium foil after impregnation process and to heat in oven at 60°C for 24 hours? An explanation is needed.

- Page 3, lines 125-17: Please describe the preparation of the samples for the microscopic analysis.

- Page 3, line 131: Please specify the producer of isocyanate glue and its characteristics (viscosity, solid content etc.).

- What were the dimensions of solid wood samples?

- Please describe in detail the methods of the preparation and testing of MOR and shear strength samples (glulam and solid wood), especially their dimensions and scheme. The same applies to determine the hardness of the samples.

- Page 7: The microscopic analysis was applied to untreated and treated manii wood. How about mangium and rubber-wood?

- Please specify the limit values of MOR, MOE, shear strength and delamination according to JAS 234-2003 standard.

- All units of measurement in the SI system are required (MPa, kg/m3, etc.).

- Too many (44%) self-citations by authors.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer

Please see our attachment file.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Color change and physical-mechanical properties of trees is important traits for wood processing and utilization. Color change and physical-mechanical properties of three tropical wood species were evaluated in this study. It is benefit for further tropical wood species improvement. Some points of this study should be carefully corrected and clarified before it can be accepted.

(1) Population phenotype variation is important interference for comparison of phenotypic differences between species. How many samples of each tropical wood species were used in this study? Is it represent each species?

(2) What is the field design? If all samples were planted in the same site？Where is samples planted? What is enviromental parameter?

(3) Are the ages of the three experimental samples consistent?

Author Response

Dear Reviewer

Please see our attachment file

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Editor,

I believe the authors have adequately addressed all the comments provided by myself and revised article can be published in Forests.

Kind regards,

Pavlo Bekhta