Synergistic Reinforcement with SEBS-g-MAH for Enhanced Thermal Stability and Processability in GO/rGO-Filled PC/ABS Composites

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript of F. Abedin and co-authors is focused on the influence of SEBS-g-MAH incorporation on the properties of GO/rGO PC/ABS composites. I believe that the presented idea is interesting and can be further developed and improved. I think it is publishable. However, some improper parts should be substantially improved in order to meet the high level of the journal.

Particularly, I have the following comments:

11)      The article structure – the authors may disagree, but in my opinion, the order of presentation of the particular results should be rearranged. In my opinion, it is advantageous to start the discussion with studies on the composition, possible interactions and processing properties, and with functional properties such (thermal and mechanical)

22)      Methods – How was the modulus calculated? What type of extensometer was used in this study? Usually, YM is obtained from the initial - linear slope of the stress-strain curve when the specimen is stretched at 1%/min

33)      The authors often refer to the synergistic effect. In my opinion, it is hard to observe this effect - I guess that it is about the synergistic effect of the filler and compatibilizer; however, this effect is not evident in the results - after the introduction of the compatibilizer and into the composite the mechanical and thermal properties even deteriorate.

44)      Is it possible to provide exemplary representative stress-strain curves? Readers may be interested in what kind of character they exhibit. How does the character change after the addition of fillers and modifiers? I believe that adding exemplary curves may bring new information and broaden the discussion.

55)      The authors stated that: “Pristine PC/ABS has a value of 1041 MPa and the addition of compatibilizer increased the value from 1041 MPa to 1049 MPa and 1062 MPa with the addition of 1 phr and 5 phr, respectively”; however, most of these values are within the limit of the standard deviation (+/- 33 MPa). This conclusion may be too far-fetched at this point.

66)      Variations in the order in which the results are presented in Tables 1, 2, and 3 and the skipping of certain samples when examining MFI (Table 4) make it difficult to read and interpret. I suggest unifying.

77)      Thermal stability. The authors provided some TG traces (Figures 2 and 3) and some numerical data. In my opinion, the numerical data lacks an important parameter: the 5% mass loss, which is considered the beginning of polymer degradation.

 

Minor remarks concerning the presentation of data/text editing:

The text requires substantial editing, there are repetitions (e.g. lines 384 -391 and 409-414) or fragmented sentences (e.g. line 385).

Figures - fig. 3 is this a realistic result? Although the TGA curves look good the derivative takes an unusual shape - it is even difficult to isolate the maximum.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

 Editing of English language required

Author Response

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Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I recommend this manuscript for publication after a minor revision 

1. All manuscript should be grammatically edited by an English spoken person?

2. All given materials should be introduced by name of country and city?

3. The sections 2.2.3 and 2.2.4 should be renumbered to 2.2.4 and 2.2.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The manuscript should be grammatically edited by an English spoken person?

Author Response

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Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript reports the Synergistic Reinforcement with SEBS-g-MAH for Enhanced Thermal Stability and Processability in GO/rGO-Filled, and after review it there are some issues that need to be corrected/improved:

- First time an abbreviation is written must be defined.

- For SEBS-g-MAH which is the MAH  content?

- Which was the base to establish the GO and rGO content in 4 phr?

- I recommend to delete figure 1,  it is not necessary to include photo of every used equipment, just the description of how the equipments were used is enough.

- What material is the ATR used and how many scan were done?

- how many replies were done to evaluate the MFI?

- A discussion about the difference between effect PAGO and PArGO must be done, I mean discuss about which of filler generate an improvement in mechanical properties.

- I recommend to delete decimals after the point for temperatures reported in table 3, also i recommend to delete figure 2 to avoid duplication of data, due table 3 reports the information that can observe in figure 2.

- In lineas 318-319 is confusing that compare PAGO with PAGOS.

- From figure 2 I recommend that inflection point reported in a table not inserted in figure. A possibility is to inserted in table 3.

- For figure 3, I recommend that make a smoothing for curves reported.

- In lines 359-360 indicate that there is. formation of anhydride group of SEBS-g-MAH, but this groups in which region can be identified?

- In the way FTIR spectra are reported in figure 4 it is hard to identify all the described signals in text, in specific region around 2200-2500 cm-1, where are present CO2 and C≡ N groups.

- sentence in line 384 is confusing due is incomplete.

- For references, follow the Authors instructions of Journal due they are not in the correct form.

Author Response

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Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The submitted article has undergone substantial and adequate revision. The corrections made allow the paper to be published in the journal. 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Minor editing of English language required.

Author Response

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Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

After review the corrected version, reviewer appreciate to authors for corrections done, however still there are some points that were not corrected or still need to be improved, following they are detailed:

- About point 2, what is asked before is the content, concentration of MAH not the chemical structure.

- Abot point 4, I still consider that it is not necessary to include a image of each step in process, may be if figure is inserted as supplementary file it would be better.

- About point 8, the suggestion to delete figure or table to avoid duplication of data still is pointed, if authors decide to include it, may be this can be inserted in supplementary files, for publication is not recommended to duplicate data in figure and table.

- About point 10, inflection point is still inserted as text in figure 5, please delete due these data now are inserted in table 4.

- About point 13, in previous review indicate that it is hard to identify the signals in FTIR spectra in the way which is reported, this is because in the overlay figure the individual spectrum are too small, so may be if the spectra is splitter and divide the PAGO materials in one spectra and PARGO in other it would be better.

-About the way how references are reported, still there is mistakes, please follow the Instructions for authors

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Author Response

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