Tempcore Process Simulator to Analyze Microstructural Evolution of Quenched and Tempered Rebar

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Submitted manuscript entitled “Tempcore Process Simulator to Analyze Microstructural Evolution of Quenched and Tempered Rebar” describes in details a cost-effective Tempcore process simulator (TPS)  and this process was precisely simulate shop floor operation to obtain high-fidelity Tempcore data which can be used in the future optimization of Tempcore process.  Topic is very interesting and I recommend it to publication. I think chapter is written in good language, information are described clear and are presented in interesting form. Technique, technology and research methods used in the work are adequate. Methods and obtained results prove founded thesis and show originality of the manuscript.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer;

Thank for your comment for our manuscript.

Authors hope that this manuscript can be helpful to related reserchers,

Sincerely,

Young Hoon Moon

Corresponding author

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper presents an attractive thermal processing technique of high strength steels, and provides a demonstration of the workshop process. Essential results on both the microstructure and hardness profile are also provided to demonstrate the scientific soundness of the technique. It is valuable for the energy saving and production efficiency in thermal processing steels. It should be acceptable for publication, while some minor revisions are required.

Please describe the methods of microstructure characterization and hardness test in Section 2.

Section 3, the results and discussion, should be evaluated by comparing with similar results of other researchers. In the current version, very little work of other researchers is mentioned except a few references in the Introduction section.

Please comment the advantages and disadvantages of the process as compared to the conventional hot rolling. For example, the heterogeneous microstructure may be accompanied by some level of thermal residual stresses due to the fast cooling.

Author Response

Please refer to the attached revision note.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

The paper provided a good discussion of the need for a Tempcore rebar simulator and how your group designed, build and verified the simulator against plant data. Having used the Gleeble simulator, I agree that it would be very difficult to accurately simulate the Tempcore product, especially for full thickness samples. 

The results were presented clearly and were satisfactory in establishing that the simulation provided high-quality data and the simulated process can be used to study the effects of cooling rate and alloying content on the product quality and properties. Such a process is valuable to the industry, as you pointed out, it is difficult to measure plant data and expensive to conduct plant trials. There was sufficient details presented for researchers or industry to build their own simulator.  

 

There are a few minor points for improvement:

1) It appears from Fig 6 that the edges and ends of the rolled plate was avoided, was this the case? The properties at the edges and ends can be affected by higher cooling rates.  

2) There is the unavoidable cooling of the specimen during transfer from furnace into the testing rig. Where there any controls in place to ensure the start temperatures were similar? I.e. time limit for successful transfer?

3) The method used to measure the cooling history should be explained in the methods section. I.e. Thermocouple attachment or Pyro? The surface temperature should be added to the text describing Fig 10a (pg 8, L 186)

 

Overall I found the paper to be of high quality.

Author Response

Please refer to the attached revision note.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx