Effect of Laser Surface Structuring on Surface Wettability and Tribological Performance of Bulk Metallic Glass

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors present how the surface wettability and wear resistance properties of a metallic glass change after a laser-structure process and a subsequent heating.

In my opinion it is not clear to what effect can be attributed the changes observed between original, laser structured and laser structured + heating surfaces. I think the authors should show an image of the the surface morphology after the heating treatment to discard any physical origin. Also the authors should shortly discuss if the effects are enterily chemical and then how would they change if the treatments were performed in different conditions (different composition of the gas environment, different cleaning conditions of the surface, etc.).

 I recommend publication in Crystals after a small revision by the authors considering my comments.

 

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Effect of Laser Surface Structuring on Surface Wettability and Tribological Performance of Bulk Metallic Glass

The above manuscript by Wang et al., aims to improve our understanding of controlling the surface functionalities and tribological performance of a Zr-based bulk metallic glass (BMG). This is an interesting topic in view of many excellent mechanical properties of BMGs and their relevance to different applications. The manuscript is quite well-written and the results conclusively show that laser-based surface structuring technique applied to BMGs is an efficient route to modulate different properties, like the structure and chemistry at the surface as well as the wettability and tribological performance.

I believe the manuscript will be of good interest to researchers working in the field of metallic glasses, and I recommend to publish it as it is.

Couple of minor comments:

1) It would be great if the authors can clarify the range of WCA values related to hydrophilic and hydrophobic behavior?

2) Further proof-reading of the manuscript is needed before publication to improve the quality of the manuscript. I encountered a handful of typos/other mistakes.

 

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf