Investigation on Speed-Load Sensitivity to Tribological Properties of Copper Metal Matrix Composites for Braking Application

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This article describes the results of the study of the speed-load sensitivity to tribological properties of copper metal matrix composites for braking application. The paper has high quality and importance for science. By combining the experimental results and discussions, it was clearly described the reasons of obtained result. This paper is new, original and well organized. English language is good in the paper and all references are adequate. Also all parts of paper are important and conclusion is fine. I recommend this paper for publication, but with minor revision:

1. You need to make the letters larger in all Figures.

Author Response

Thank you for very much for the suggestion. All figures were replaced by revised figures in the paper.

Reviewer 2 Report

Paper can be accepted after the following corrections:

1. Please provide clear schematic block diagram of measurement setup.
2. Please asses the uncertainty (accuracy) of the most important measurements.
3. Conclusions should be developed presenting the most important practical applications of presented results.

Author Response

1. Line 85, a clear schematic block diagram of the subscale dynamometer is presented. Additionally, the testing procedure is provided in the revised manuscript (Lines 77-80).
2. As described in the paper, in order to guarantee the precision and accuracy, the test system was equipped with a computerized data acquisition and control system for controlling and monitoring of various parameters (Lines 82-83).
3. This study provides further support for materials design and practical applications of Cu-MMCs, and this newly developed Cu-MMC holds great promise for brake pads in high-speed trains, as shown in our previous report [4] (Lines 355-357).

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear Authors, 

the work is well done but, in my opinion, it should be improved on the basis of some comments through the pdf attached.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

The MM-3000 tester applied in this study is a sophisticated testing equipment. According to the practical requirements, on the basis of their own set-up, it can be used to test the tribological properties of materials under various conditions. As shown in our previous report [8], a Cu-MMC was tested using MM-3000 tester at low-temperature in vacuum. Though the frictional performances of Cu-MMC has been investigated under wet condition, the current work aimed to systematically study the speed-load sensitivity to tribological properties of Cu-MMC under dry condition at room temperature in air.

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear Author,

the manuscript was improved, thank you.

however, before to accept it for the publication i would suggest two minor comments:

1. at line 70 should be added a reference (ISO or other suitable guideline) or, alternatively, a own report derived from a previous protocol.
2. the Conclusions section should give only sentence, no refs. the paragraph from line 356 to 358 should be moved in the discussion section in a new paragraph such as "limit of the study" and discuss about limitation adavantages and disadvantages limits of the present study.   

Author Response

1. We appreciate for your warm work earnestly. The testing equipment and procedure we have proposed are the same as that published in our previous work (Reference [8]). So we added the Reference [8] at line 70 in the revised paper.
2. Thanks for your suggestion. The paragraph from line 356 to 358 was moved in the discussion, as shown in the revised manuscript. Additionally, the practical applications of presented results was described.