Influence of Phenol–Formaldehyde Resin Oligomer Molecular Weight on the Strength Properties of Beech Wood

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript „Influence of phenol–formaldehyde resin oligomer molecular weight on the mechanical properties of beech wood” discusses some selected parameters of beech wood treated with a few resins differing in molecular weight. The research does not have too much novelty, and the manuscript contains several serious flaws. The aim does not describe the reason for performing the study. The figures are difficult to understand, and their captions are vague. No statistical analyses are performed, which makes the statements made in the paper unjustified. There are no scientific explanations for the phenomena observed, and many statements are obvious (e.g., it is obvious that the molecules with lower molecular weight can better penetrate the wood structure than those with higher molecular weight). More detailed comments, questions, and suggestions can be found in the attached .pdf file.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Reviewer: 1
Comments to the Author
Review comments (serial number: No. forests-1893109)

The manuscript „Influence of phenol–formaldehyde resin oligomer molecular weight on the mechanical properties of beech wood” discusses some selected parameters of beech wood treated with a few resins differing in molecular weight. The research does not have too much novelty, and the manuscript contains several serious flaws. The aim does not describe the reason for performing the study. The figures are difficult to understand, and their captions are vague. No statistical analyses are performed, which makes the statements made in the paper unjustified. There are no scientific explanations for the phenomena observed, and many statements are obvious (e.g., it is obvious that the molecules with lower molecular weight can better penetrate the wood structure than those with higher molecular weight). More detailed comments, questions, and suggestions can be found in the attached .pdf file.

 Dear Reviewers:Thank you for approving my paper entitled “Influence of phenol–formaldehyde resin oligomer molecular weight on the mechanical properties of beech wood”. No. forests-1893109. You are so serious and your comments are very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches. In the following, we modified the manuscript as your advice. Please see the revised manuscript. We appreciate for your warm work earnestly, and hope that the correction will meet with approval.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The title shows "mechanical properties" but the content has only the strength.

The authors should change title and try to show the mechanism of the phenomena. The mesurement results/method is not critical.

 

Author Response

Reviewer: 2
Comments to the Author

The title shows "mechanical properties" but the content has only the strength. The authors should change title and try to show the mechanism of the phenomena. The mesurement results/method is not critical.

Response: We appreciate the reviewer for the comments. We modified the title “Influence of phenol–formaldehyde resin oligomer molecular weight on the mechanical properties of beech wood” into “Influence of phenol–formaldehyde resin oligomer molecular weight on the strength properties of beech wood”. Moreover, we add the mechanism of modification by PF resin in the revised manuscript. Please see the revised manuscript. We appreciate for your warm work earnestly, and hope that the correction will meet with approval.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

The paper by Lang et al. investigates Influence of phenol–formaldehyde resin oligomer molecular weight on the mechanical properties of beech wood. The authors claim an increase in WPG compared. The characterizations were done using SEM and light microscopy. The relationship between the resin molecular weight and wood inner structure was analyzed. In general, the manuscript is well-written, structured and informative, but still needs some improvements before acceptance for publication in the Forests Journal. Please, see below my comments on your work:

1.  In lines 66-72, “The Materials and Methods should be described with sufficient details to allow others to replicate and build on the published results. Please note that the publication of your manuscript implicates that you must make all materials, data, computer code, and protocols associated with the publication available to readers. Please disclose at the submission stage any restrictions on the availability of materials or information. New methods and protocols should be described in detail while well-established methods can be briefly described and appropriately cited.” should be removed.

2.  In lines 266-267, “PF resins with the four different Mw values at four concentrations (5%, 10%, 15%, and 25%) in water were impregnated into beech wood”. The concentration 25% should be revised to 20%. Please revise.

3.  The error bar should be added to the Figure 4. Please revise.

4.  The Figure 7 is not clear. Please replace a clear one.

Author Response

Reviewer: 3
Comments to the Author

The paper by Lang et al. investigates Influence of phenol–formaldehyde resin oligomer molecular weight on the mechanical properties of beech wood. The authors claim an increase in WPG compared. The characterizations were done using SEM and light microscopy. The relationship between the resin molecular weight and wood inner structure was analyzed. In general, the manuscript is well-written, structured and informative, but still needs some improvements before acceptance for publication in the Forests Journal. Please, see below my comments on your work:

1. In lines 66-72,“The Materials and Methods should be described with sufficient details to allow others to replicate and build on the published results. Please note that the publication of your manuscript implicates that you must make all materials, data, computer code, and protocols associated with the publication available to readers. Please disclose at the submission stage any restrictions on the availability of materials or information. New methods and protocols should be described in detail while well-established methods can be briefly described and appropriately cited.” should be removed.
2. In lines 266-267, “PF resins with the four different Mw values at four concentrations (5%, 10%, 15%, and 25%) in water were impregnated into beech wood”. The concentration 25% should be revised to 20%. Please revise.
3. The error bar should be added to the Figure 4. Pleaserevise.
4. The Figure 7 is not clear. Please replace a clear one.

Dear Reviewers:Thank you for approving my paper entitled “Influence of phenol–formaldehyde resin oligomer molecular weight on the mechanical properties of beech wood”. No. forests-1893109. You are so serious and your comments are very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches. In the following, we listed our response after each comment. We modified the manuscript as your advice. Please see the revised manuscript. We appreciate for your warm work earnestly, and hope that the correction will meet with approval.

1. In lines 66-72,“The Materials and Methods should be described with sufficient details to allow others to replicate and build on the published results. Please note that the publication of your manuscript implicates that you must make all materials, data, computer code, and protocols associated with the publication available to readers. Please disclose at the submission stage any restrictions on the availability of materials or information. New methods and protocols should be described in detail while well-established methods can be briefly described and appropriately cited.” should be removed.

Response: We appreciate the reviewer for the comments. We removed the lines 66-72 from manuscript.

2. In lines 266-267, “PF resins with the four different Mw values at four concentrations (5%, 10%, 15%, and 25%) in water were impregnated into beech wood”. The concentration 25% should be revised to 20%. Please revise.

Response: We thank the reviewer for the valuable comment. We revised the mistake in lines 266-267.

3. The error bar should be added to the Figure 4. Please

Response: Thanks for your suggestion. The error bar was added to the Figure 4.

4. The Figure 7 is not clear. Please replace a clear one.

Response: Thanks for your advice. A new figure was replaced in manuscript.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript has been corrected according to the Reviewers' suggestions.