Strength and Microstructural Changes in Cementitious Composites Containing Waste Oyster Shell Powder

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

please see the attachment.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

minor revision

Author Response

We sincerely appreciate your time and effort in reviewing our manuscript. Please find the attached file for detailed responses. Once again, thank you for your time and consideration.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Within this study, the authors investigate cement composites incorporating waste oyster shell powder. The effect of various content of WOSP, various curing conditions (water type) and different curing period is evaluated. My minor remarks can be found below:

1. Could you explain what is the origin of the mixing protocol for cement mortar? Is it a standard procedure? Please add this information in the text.

2. According to the introduction and state-of-the-art part of the paper, other authors reported the reduction of the water adsorption with the addition of WOSP. Moreover, in lines 316-318 the authors stated that WOSP can act as a supplementary material contributing to the increased strength and durability. Instead, within this study, the authors observed the opposite trend in both sorptivity and strength. Could you please explain this difference?

3. Could you comment on alite and belite peaks in XRD for samples with different WOSP content? 

Author Response

We sincerely appreciate your time and effort in reviewing our manuscript. Please find the attached file for detailed responses. Once again, thank you for your time and consideration.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx