Effect of Heat Treatment on Microstructure and Properties of GH3536 Fabricated by Selective Laser Melting

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors have used a selective laser melting forming technology to prepare GH3536 alloy and studied the effect of heat treatment on mechanical properties, microstructure, and fracture micromechanism of the formed samples. They obtained interesting results. However, some deficiencies need to be corrected to make the manuscript acceptable for publication.

(1) Please avoid phrases like “structure of the microstructure” (Line 53), “ stretching” (Line 77; “tensile test” may be used instead), “the polished morphology” (Line 83; “the morphology of the polished SLMed samples” may be used instead), “the crack … form cracks” (Lines 88–89; it is confusing).

(2) Please specify a diameter of the work section of a tensile sample (Lines 61–64).

(3) The authors should provide a reference related to the specified mode of heat treatment, or substantiate the selection of this mode (Lines 68–70).

(4) The spelling of the caption to Fig.7 should be checked.

(5) The caption to Fig.8 should be checked: It is expected HTed material, not SLMed.

(6) Fig.6 and Fig.9: Please specify in the figure body and in the caption what the arrows indicate.

(7) Please check the spelling throughout the manuscript.

Author Response

Dear editor and reviewers,

Thank you for your comments concerning our manuscript. We have studied comments carefully and have made the correction. We hope it meets with approval. The main corrections in the paper and the responds to the editor’s comments are listed below point by point as follows:

• Please avoid phrases like “structure of the microstructure” (Line 53), “ stretching” (Line 77; “tensile test” may be used instead), “the polished morphology” (Line 83; “the morphology of the polished SLMed samples” may be used instead), “the crack … form cracks” (Lines 88–89; it is confusing).

Authors: Thank the reviewers’ comments, we have checked carefully and polished the manuscript.

• Please specify a diameter of the work section of a tensile sample (Lines 61–64).

Authors: We have provided the diameter of samples

• The authors should provide a reference related to the specified mode of heat treatment, or substantiate the selection of this mode (Lines 68–70).

Authors: We have provided the reference to the specified mode of heat treatment.

• The spelling of the caption to Fig.7 should be checked.

Authors: Thank the reviewers’ comments, we have checked the caption of Fig.7.

• The caption to Fig.8 should be checked: It is expected HTed material, not SLMed.

Authors: Thank the reviewers’ comments, we have checked the caption of Fig.8.

• 6 and Fig.9: Please specify in the figure body and in the caption what the arrows indicate.

Authors: We have added some information of Fig.6 and Fig.9.

• Please check the spelling throughout the manuscript.

Authors: Thank the reviewers’ comments, we have checked carefully and polished the manuscript.

We tried our best to improve the manuscript and made some changes in the manuscript.

Once again, thank you very much for your comments.

Best regards,

Shaoqing Guo

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper presents good interest. In it, the authors have presented the tensile properties and corresponding microstructures of samples of nickel-based superalloy GH3536, produced with different orientations by the selective laser melting (SLM) process. The authors compared them with the heat-treated samples as well. The article is informative and suitable for publication, but the following changes need to be made to improve the article.

1. It would be better if GH3536 alloy in the abstract could also be written with the names of the metals such as "nickel-based superalloy".

2. It is recommended that the elemental composition of GH3536 alloy be given in the Experimental Details section.

3. It is recommended to state the reason for choosing such values for the manufacturing parameters in SLM.

4. “The size of the square sample in the X-Y direction is 13.5mm×13.5mm×73mm, the size of the cylindrical sample in the Z direction is Ф13.5×73mm, and the size of the cylindrical sample in the 45° direction with the support and the substrate is Ф13.5mm.”

-          This sentence is confusing. What is meant by the square sample? The size of the cylindrical sample in the 45° direction is also not clear.

5. “The substrate for forming is 316 stainless steel, the size is 250 mm × 250 mm × 30 mm, the preheating temperature is 100 °C, and the whole preparation process is carried out in an argon atmosphere.”

-          What was the oxygen content?

6. The sentence in lines 174-176 should be rephrased.

7. The labels of the panels in Figures 7 and 8 are overwritten in the texts. Please modify the figures.

8. Only one citation is provided in the "Results and discussion" section. It is recommended to cite more sources and supporting documents.

Author Response

Dear editor and reviewers,

Thank you for your comments concerning our manuscript. We have studied comments carefully and have made the correction. We hope it meets with approval. The main corrections in the paper and the responds to the editor’s comments are listed below point by point as follows:

• It would be better if GH3536 alloy in the abstract could also be written with the names of the metals such as "nickel-based superalloy".

Authors: Thank the reviewers’ comments, we have added the “nickel-based superalloy" name.

• It is recommended that the elemental composition of GH3536 alloy be given in the Experimental Details section.

Authors: We have added the elemental composition of GH3536 alloy.

• It is recommended to state the reason for choosing such values for the manufacturing parameters in SLM.

Authors: We have added the reason for choosing such values for the manufacturing parameters in SLM.

• “The size of the square sample in the X-Y direction is 13.5mm×13.5mm×73mm, the size of the cylindrical sample in the Z direction is Ф13.5×73mm, and the size of the cylindrical sample in the 45° direction with the support and the substrate is Ф13.5mm.” This sentence is confusing. What is meant by the square sample? The size of the cylindrical sample in the 45° direction is also not clear.

Authors: We have rewritten this sentence.

• “The substrate for forming is 316 stainless steel, the size is 250 mm × 250 mm × 30 mm, the preheating temperature is 100 °C, and the whole preparation process is carried out in an argon atmosphere.”- What was the oxygen content?

Authors: We have rewritten this sentence.

• The sentence in lines 174-176 should be rephrased.

Authors: We have rephrased this sentence.

• The labels of the panels in Figures 7 and 8 are overwritten in the texts. Please modify the figures.

 Authors: We have modified these figures.

• Only one citation is provided in the "Results and discussion" section. It is recommended to cite more sources and supporting documents.

 Authors: We have added some citations.

We tried our best to improve the manuscript and made some changes in the manuscript.

Once again, thank you very much for your comments.

Best regards,

Shaoqing Guo