The Use of Carbon-Containing Compounds to Prepare Functional and Structural Composite Materials: A Review

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

1.         The first chapter introduces too little about the content of the article

2.         Some nouns need to be written in their full names when they first appear, such as MMS/ MWCNT

3.         Section 2.2: Only carbon nanotubes are introduced. The "carbon containing substances" in the 2.2 title should be changed to "carbon nanotubes", or add introduction of other carbon containing substances in 2.2 section

4.         The title of 3.1 is not appropriate, please replace it with specific advantages

5.         Section 3.2 is not suitable for Chapter 3 and is recommended as a separate chapter.

6.         Some paragraphs have more content and are not very clear. It is suggested to divide them into several paragraphs

7.         The author should point out more about the development direction and difficulties of the field

8.         The logic of the article is not very clear

9.         There is not much summative exposition in the article

Author Response

We thank the reviewer for their detailed consideration of our manuscript. We hope that after our revisions the manuscript has become better and meets the requirements of the Applied Sciences for published articles.

Q1. The first chapter introduces too little about the content of the article

A1. Corrections have been made in the text of the manuscript in accordance with the remark. The first chapter has been expanded.

Q2. Some nouns need to be written in their full names when they first appear, such as MMS/ MWCNT

A2. Corrections have been made in the text of the manuscript in accordance with the remark.

Q3. Section 2.2: Only carbon nanotubes are introduced. The "carbon containing substances" in the 2.2 title should be changed to "carbon nanotubes", or add introduction of other carbon containing substances in 2.2 section

A3. In accordance with the remark, the title of Section 2.2 has been changed to “2.2. Carbon nanotubes and nanofibers are promising solids for the preparation of structural composite materials with a metal matrix”.

Q4. The title of 3.1 is not appropriate, please replace it with specific advantages

A4. In accordance with the comment, the title of section 3.1 has been changed from "Interfacial interaction of composite components" to "Influence of interfacial interaction of components in carbon-containing composites on their physical and mechanical properties".

Q5. Section 3.2 is not suitable for Chapter 3 and is recommended as a separate chapter.

A5. We agree with the reviewer's remark and have separated section 3.2 into a separate chapter 4.

Q6. Some paragraphs have more content and are not very clear. It is suggested to divide them into several paragraphs.

A6. Dear reviewer, we believe that the logic of the article does not allow splitting sections into paragraphs.

Q7. The author should point out more about the development direction and difficulties of the field.

A7. We have added summarizing material to the "Conclusion" section.

Q8. The logic of the article is not very clear.

A8. In this review, we have tried to summarize information on the synthesis, properties of carbon-containing structures (nanotubes, nanofibers, graphene), as well as on composite metal materials with carbon inclusions. A review was also made of existing methods for modeling the hardening of metal-matrix composites reinforced with carbon structures (nanotubes) in order to understand the mechanisms of hardening and deformation of such systems. This is necessary for a better understanding of the direction of development opportunities for composite materials with carbon reinforcing structures. Therefore, we tried to cover all these aspects in one review.
We have included this generalization in the text of the Conclusion. 

Q9. There is not much summative exposition in the article. 

A9. We have added summarizing material to the Introduction, Conclusion and  Chapter 2.

Reviewer 2 Report

I took into consideration that the review is dealing with technology and not with applications but several references about tribology of such composites would be of interest to underline the improvement of tribological characteristics. 

There is o figure without citation (see the attached document) but this could  be done. I was interested in seeing more SEM images that sustain the text, even they are taken from references. But it is not compulsory and the references are well selected, even if about tribology of carbon components (graphite, graphene etc.) there are more to say, even in a review.

I think the paper is a good review to start a research team about these composite with carbon components.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

We thank the reviewer for their detailed consideration of our manuscript. We hope that after our revisions the manuscript has become better and meets the requirements of the Applied Sciences for published articles.

A1. We have made additions to section 2 and section 3.1. related to the tribological characteristics of carbon-containing composites.

Reviewer 3 Report

This review reported the synthesis, properties of carbon-containing compounds, and their application in the technology of obtaining functional and structural composites. I think this manuscript can be published in applied sciences after minor revisions outlined below:

1. The language of this review should be greatly improved.

2. The challenges and perspectives for the materials of carbon-containing compounds should be clarified.

3. The latest application progress of carbon-containing compounds should be introduced in detail.

Author Response

We thank the reviewer for their detailed consideration of our manuscript. We hope that after our revisions the manuscript has become better and meets the requirements of the Applied Sciences for published articles.

Q1. The language of this review should be greatly improved.

A1. We have tried to improve the language of the article.

Q2. The challenges and perspectives for the materials of carbon-containing compounds should be clarified.

A2. We have added the necessary material to the sections: Introduction and Conclusion.

Q3. The latest application progress of carbon-containing compounds should be introduced in detail.

A3. We have inserted additional material in Section (Chapter) 2.

Reviewer 4 Report

The figures are all very simple. These can be taken even from Wikipedia. There is no table for composite. The article is too simple and hardly has any depth. Not even a single figure is made by the author. The review requires giving some future prospects. Thue, the key novelties are missing from the manuscript. 

Author Response

We thank the reviewer for their detailed consideration of our manuscript. We hope that after our revisions the manuscript has become better and meets the requirements of the Applied Sciences for published articles.

In this review, we have tried to summarize information on the synthesis, properties of carbon-containing structures (nanotubes, nanofibers, graphene), as well as information on composite metal materials with carbon inclusions. A review of existing methods for modeling the hardening of metal-matrix composites reinforced with carbon structures (nanotubes) was also made in order to understand the mechanisms of hardening and deformation of such systems. This is necessary for a better understanding of the direction of development opportunities for composite materials with carbon reinforcing structures. Therefore, we tried to cover all these aspects in one review.
We have included in the text of the Conclusion and Chapter 2 the prospects for the development of carbon materials and composites with carbon-containing nanostructures.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

None

Reviewer 4 Report

can be accepted