Unconventional High-Value Utilization of Metallurgical Iron-Bearing Dust as Shielding Composite for Medical X-rays
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
1. Title of the paper: “Unconventional high-value utilization of metallurgical as iron-bearing dust shielding composite for medical X-rays” should be “Unconventional high-value utilization of metallurgical iron-bearing dust as shielding composite for medical X-rays”?
2. Some confusing contexts and unnecessarily wordy information make it difficult to read and follow. Please re-write. Just for reference, in L181-185 “Therefore, iron-containing dust as a filler plays a major role in the X-ray shielding process,….Therefore, iron-containing dust as a filler plays a major role in the X-ray shielding process…is much higher than that of the substrate.”
3. L174-178 “With the addition of iron-bearing dust, …and reaches a minimum value of 0.68 mm.” Please explain why the mass attenuation coefficient of the shielding material increases with the addition of iron-bearing dust and it is the opposite trend for the half-value layer thickness.
4. English must be improved through the article. I would suggest the authors ask a native for correct English, and then submit again thereafter. References must be formatted according to journal style. Use the standard abbreviations for journal names given in the International Standard ISO 4.
5. The conclusion should be concise.
Author Response
Dear reviewer 1,
Thank you for your comments on our manuscript entitled "Unconventional high-value utilization of metallurgical iron-bearing dust as shielding composite for medical X-rays" (sustainability-2258296). Those comments are very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as make important guiding significance to other researches. We have studied the comments carefully and made corrections which we hope meet with approval. Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions. We will reply to you as a word file.
Mr. Changcheng Ge
E-mail: [email protected]
Department of Resource and Environment, School of Metallurgy, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, P. R. China
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Please think about revising or revisiting the topic, the " as" does not make sentence.
Unconventional high-value utilization of metallurgical as iron-bearing dust shielding composite for medical X-rays.
The "as "may be after dust. For example, as shielding composite for medical X-rays.
Sentence 107- Figure S1? there is no figure by this labelling.
Figure 1, last block- correct shielding performance spelling.
Author Response
Dear reviewer 2,
Thank you for your comments on our manuscript entitled "Unconventional high-value utilization of metallurgical iron-bearing dust as shielding composite for medical X-rays" (sustainability-2258296). Those comments are very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as make important guiding significance to other researches. We have studied the comments carefully and made corrections which we hope meet with approval. Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions. We will reply to you as a word file.
Mr. Changcheng Ge
E-mail: [email protected]
Department of Resource and Environment, School of Metallurgy, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, P. R. China
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
Review report: Unconventional high-value utilization of metallurgical as iron bearing dust shielding composite for medical X-rays. Work is presented well with good publishing quality and can be accepted after the following minor corrections:
1. Abstract: Add some quantitative results related to mechanical testing at end of the abstract section.
2. Introduction: In place of citing multiple references, explain the individual work of the author and try to make a bridge between current and previous work.
3. Novelty and application: Add a separate section for novelty and application of work.
4. Materials and methods: Section is presented well but need some corrections. Add a detail of experimental set up instead of a schematic image. Add reference for each equation.
5. Results and Discussion: The major corrections are listed below:
a. Results should be results and discussion.
b. It is difficult to get any quantitative information from Fig. 5.
c. The variation in parameters with shielding percentage is good but technical discussion is completely missing.
6. Use key bullet points instead of paragraphs for conclusion section.
Author Response
Dear reviewer 3,
Thank you for your comments on our manuscript entitled "Unconventional high-value utilization of metallurgical iron-bearing dust as shielding composite for medical X-rays" (sustainability-2258296). Those comments are very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as make important guiding significance to other researches. We have studied the comments carefully and made corrections which we hope meet with approval. Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions. We will reply to you as a word file.
Mr. Changcheng Ge
E-mail: [email protected]
Department of Resource and Environment, School of Metallurgy, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, P. R. China
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 4 Report
This paper presents an innovative method of preparing X-ray shielding materials using iron-bearing dust as the filler and polyimide resin powder as the matrix. The results demonstrate that the prepared composite has excellent X-ray shielding performance, making it an efficient and cost-effective solution for medical X-ray shielding. The study provides a potential solution for the disposal of iron-bearing dust and also contributes to the development of green materials in the field of X-ray shielding. Here I have some comments on the manuscript:
1. Iron-bearing dust generated in the metallurgical industry is not uniform in its composition, and its properties may vary depending on the source of the waste. This variability can affect the properties of the prepared composites, leading to inconsistency in their shielding performance. While this work is a good starting point, further studies are necessary to address this issue.
2. In Figure 5, 7, and 9, there are some gray areas within the samples, indicating as-fabricated samples are not homogeneous through hot pressing. Optimization of the process parameters, such as temperature, pressure, and time, specific to the composite system should be carried out to address this issue.
3. In Figure 11, the shielding performance of sample I-90 and I-80 appears to be similar without an obvious trend. More discussion is needed to explain this finding.
4. X-ray fluorescence spectrometer and an organic elemental analyzer in CHN/O mode were mentioned in the manuscript for composition analysis. The results from these analyses should be presented in the manuscript.
5. The analysis/simulation tool used in Figure 12 should be explicitly mentioned in the manuscript.
6. The title in section 3.3 should be: Effect of tube current on shielding performance”
7. There is an extra red underscore in line 229, which should be moved.
8. In line 261 and 262, “two raw mate-rials” should be corrected to “two raw materials”. In 266, “Fur-ther-more” should be corrected to “ Furthermore”. In 267, “in-crease” should be corrected to “increase”. In line 272, “The inter-action” should be corrected to “The interaction”.
9. Sentences was repeated in line 298. “This is completely consistent with the interaction mode of the filler. This is completely consistent with the interaction mode of the filler.”
Author Response
Dear reviewer 4,
Thank you for your comments on our manuscript entitled "Unconventional high-value utilization of metallurgical iron-bearing dust as shielding composite for medical X-rays" (sustainability-2258296). Those comments are very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as make important guiding significance to other researches. We have studied the comments carefully and made corrections which we hope meet with approval. Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions. We will reply to you as a word file.
Mr. Changcheng Ge
E-mail: [email protected]
Department of Resource and Environment, School of Metallurgy, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, P. R. China
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 3 Report
Accepted.
