Effect of Pore Defects on Mechanical Properties of Graphene Reinforced Aluminum Nanocomposites
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
page 1 line 29: "graphene" not "grapheme"
page 2 line 60: the proper writing is "von Mises" not "Von mises". It is German name.
In my opinion paper confirm very well known influence of pores on stress concentration. Also influence of pores shape is not surprising.
Important thing is that Authors performed their calculations for nanomaterials due to presence of graphene as a reinforcement of aluminium matrix.
I understand that it is not easy to visualise the real microstructure of nanocomposite, but pores of diameters in the range of 0.5-3.0 microns should be clearly visible with SEM. So, calculations could be also performed for real pores (shape nad distribution). It is a pity that Authors gave up and did not made anyone analysis of real microstructure. I think that it should be done.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments:
Many thanks to Reviewer 1 for his (or her) comments and positive comments on our manuscript (metals-746054), we have carefully revised the manuscript by addressing properly the comments from reviewer. Modified content in the manuscript is shown in red.
Point 1: page 1 line 29: "graphene" not "grapheme"
Response 1: It has been corrected in the revised manuscript.
Point 2: page 2 line 60: the proper writing is "von Mises" not "Von mises". It is German name.
Response 2: It has been revised in the revised manuscript.
Point 3: In my opinion paper confirm very well known influence of pores on stress concentration. Also influence of pores shape is not surprising.
Response 3: Thank you for your comment. We know that pore defects are an essential feature of composite materials, and we have no way to completely eliminate pores in composite materials. Porosity leads to stress concentration and reduces the properties of composite materials, so it is necessary to study on pore defects of composites. At the same time, we also found that the stress caused by the pore shape is also different, and the stress concentration caused by the circular pore is the smallest. The defects of circular pores are dominant. Due to space limitations, we have not added research on the shape of pores.
Point 4: Important thing is that Authors performed their calculations for nanomaterials due to presence of graphene as a reinforcement of aluminium matrix.
Response 4: Thanks to the reviewers for their positive comments on our work. Graphene, as a new nanomaterial, has important application in aluminum-based composites, but there are still some problems to be solved in this composite.
Point 5: I understand that it is not easy to visualise the real microstructure of nanocomposite, but pores of diameters in the range of 0.5-3.0 microns should be clearly visible with SEM. So, calculations could be also performed for real pores (shape nad distribution). It is a pity that Authors gave up and did not made anyone analysis of real microstructure. I think that it should be done.
Response 5: Thanks to the reviewer for his valuable comments and good suggestions. We have also carried out experimental research on graphene reinforced aluminum composites, and studied the microstructure and performance relationship of graphene reinforced aluminum composites, see reference 2. The main purpose of this thesis is to prove the negative effect of pore defects on the properties of composites through theoretical simulations. We also conducted a comparative study with a set of experimentally prepared 2vol% GRANs has a porosity of 1.2% and a pore diameter of about 2 μm. It showed that our simulation research and experimental results agree well. This has certain reference value.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Review comment:
Title: Effect of Pore Defects on Mechanical Properties of Graphene Reinforced Aluminum Nanocomposites
I (Reviewer) have now commented on this paper.
If you are prepared to undertake the work required, I would be pleased to reconsider my decision. For your guidance, my comments are appended below.
- I (reviewer) cannot find any references in all the results and discussion part. if you used the results of other papers, you must point to references. Furthermore, you should indicate your results.
- Please check formatting template of a journal (edit references format and image description of Figure 6)
- Page 1 – line 29: grapheme should be graphene
- Page 1 – line 31: “pores” word repeated 2 times
- Is the composite nanocomposite? The authors should show the product is nanocomposite.
- The authors should explain the reason why porosities were 1.2 %, 2.4%, 3.6%, and 4.8%.
Thanks for your cooperation.
Reviewer
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 2 Comments：
Many thanks to Reviewer 2 for his (or her) comments and positive comments on our manuscript (metals-746054), we have carefully revised the manuscript by addressing properly the comments from reviewer. Modified content in the manuscript is shown in red.
Point 1: I (reviewer) cannot find any references in all the results and discussion part. if you used the results of other papers, you must point to references. Furthermore, you should indicate your results.
Response 1: Thanks to reviewer 2 for his valuable comments and good suggestions. We have added relevant references in the revised paper. See lines 174-176 on page 8 of the revised manuscript.
Point 2: Please check formatting template of a journal (edit references format and image description of Figure 6)
Response 2: Thanks you for your comments and they have been corrected in revised manuscript.
Point 3: Page 1 – line 29: grapheme should be graphene
Response 3: It has been corrected in the revised manuscript.
Point 4: Page 1 – line 31: “pores” word repeated 2 times
Response 4: It has been corrected in the revised manuscript.
Point 5: Is the composite nanocomposite? The authors should show the product is nanocomposite.
Response 5: Thank you for your advice. It is the nanocomposite. We use nano-graphene and aluminum to prepare graphene reinforced aluminum nanocomposites. We simulated the preparation of graphene aluminum nanocomposites by mixing nanographene sheets and aluminum powder. In the simulation, it is still set that the graphene still exists as a nanographene sheet in the aluminum matrix without agglomeration, so it can be regarded as a nanocomposite. In the experiment, we prepared a graphene-aluminum nanocomposite with better performance by mixing graphene and aluminum. Please refer to reference 2.
Point 6: The authors should explain the reason why porosities were 1.2 %, 2.4%, 3.6%, and 4.8%.
Response 6: The process for the preparation of graphene aluminum nanocomposites with good properties ususally has a porosity of about 1%. Experimental studies have found that when the porosity of a composite is greater than 5%, the performance of the composite is poor and has no application value. With reference to experimental data, we set four typical types of porosity of 1.2%, 2.4%, 3.6%, and 4.8% respectively, and then carried out simulation studies.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Thank you for improvements.
