Analysis of the Causes of Differences between the Upper and Lower Surfaces of Electroless Ni–P Coating on LZ91 Magnesium–Lithium Alloy

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Journal: Coatings

Article

Analysis of the Causes of Differences Between the Upper and Lower Surfaces of Electroless Ni-P Coating on LZ91 Magnesium-Lithium Alloy

Shi-feng Pei 1 , Si-qi Li 1 (Joint first authors), Liang Zhong 1,*, Kai-fang Cui 2 , Jun Yang 1 and Zhi-gang Yang 1

Summary:

In present study, author has coated LZ91 Magnesium-Lithium Alloy with Ni-P Coating. Author has detected various difference at different areas of coating. Author proposed few measures for the same.

Comments:

·         First line of introduction claims present materials as lightest materials. Author should pose only moderate claim. There are other metals lighter than present materials.

·         Abstract should be written as a paragraph. Author should start from need to research in the area.

·         Structure of introduction section should be rephrased. Author should detail about present article at end of introduction not in every paragraph of introduction section.

·         Author should present a comparison table of various coating on LZ91 Magnesium-Lithium.

·         3.1.1 Analysis of surface composition after activation:: Author used XPS here. To better compare other samples, the author should use same technique.

·         Why author used all different technique in 3.1.1-3.1.3?

·         3.2 Deposition process inference:: How author validated the presented the deposition process ?

Author Response

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Mg-Li alloy was coated by Ni-P coting for better corrosion resistance. The subject can potentially can be considered interesting for the readers. However, there are some points which should be clarified before a further process, as mentioned below:

11.       It seems that Figure 2 shows XPS of just bare Mg-Li alloy. Now, what about the XPS of the sample after the Ni-P plating? Then, the Ni peak should be also deconvoluted and the probable presence of NiO should be examined. In addition, in Figure 2, there are some unknown peaks in the XPS survey. These peaks should be determined.

22.       Adhesion of the Ni-P coting should be checked and reported.

33.       Ni results in introducing some magnetic properties to the samples. This can change the performance of the Mg-Li material. This issue should be addressed and discussed in the revised version using suitable supports.  

44.       The discussion section needs further completion based on the results and literatures.

Author Response

Dear Reviewers.

Thank you for your contribution to the review of the manuscript (No. coating-1841037), which has been very helpful to us in improving the manuscript. We have revised the manuscript based on your suggestions. The specific response is attached.

Kind regards.

Shifeng Pei (first author)

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Please mention at the beginning of the abstract which is the goal of the research work in relation to state of the art. You have to point out the necessity for such experimental work. Why is so important to place  the sample horizontally?

The main idea of this research work is not proper for industrial application. It would be more interesting to place the sample vertically and to investigate the coating along the length(depth) of the sample.

Some of the conclusions contain information which is already known. Please just mention the novelty of the obtained information based on your reserach work.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you for your contribution to the review of the manuscript (no. coatings-1841037), which greatly helped us to improve the manuscript. We have revised our manuscript according to your suggestions. The specific responses are in the attachment.

Kind regards,
Shifeng Pei (First author)

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Journal Coatings (ISSN 2079-6412)

Manuscript ID    coatings-1841037

Type      Article

Title       Analysis of the causes of differences between the upper and lower surfaces of electroless Ni-P coating on LZ91 magnesium-lithium alloy

Authors                Shifeng Pei , Liang Zhong * , Si-qi Li , Kai-fang Cui , Jun Yang , Zhi-gang Yang

Accepted

Reviewer 2 Report

The revisions are acceptable. 

Reviewer 3 Report

Point 2, Figure 1: Is there any difference if the sample is placed at differents depths in the solution?

Point 2, Figure 2: if the sample is placed vertically, one should investigate left/right surface (upper/lower makes no sense).