First-Principles Calculation of the Bonding Strength of the Al2O3-Fe Interface Enhanced by Amorphous Na2SiO3
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This work provided a theoretical explanation for the effect of amorphous sodium metasilicate on the bonding strength of the Fe-Al2O3 interface. The manuscript is fairly well written and presented, with interesting results. I would recommend it for publication after minor revisions. I only have a few questions and comments, as follows:
1. The authors refer to the interface between Fe and Al2O3, but perhaps should mention why is it interesting to study such interface. Is it related to the use of alumina-reinforced iron-based alloys (i.e. steels)? It would make the Introduction clearer if the target composite systems were specified.
2. In line 38, the authors mention ‘substrate’ but in a composite system (i.e. alumina dispersed in Fe) it is more correct to refer to it as ‘matrix’.
3. Why did the authors select γ-Fe structure for the model creation? Wouldn’t α-Fe be more interesting since most Fe-based alloys are ferritic?
4. In equation 1, it is not clear what E2 and E1/2 are.
5. In line 123, the authors refer to stress as ‘s’ and strain as ‘e’, but in the formulas 2 and 3 these entities are referred to as sigma (σ) and epsilon (ε), respectively.
6. In line 185, the authors state that “the charge accumulation between Fe and Al-terminated is weak”, but I could not see in which figure is such model depicted (with Al-terminated interface). Figures 8 and 9 present only O-terminated models, for the Fe-Al2O3 interface.
7. Have these results been validated by experimental work?
8. The references list should include article titles.
9. I recommend proofreading the manuscript.
Author Response
Dear Editor,Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Please see attached.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
Dear Editor,Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
