Preparation and Properties of Textured Ni–W Coatings Electrodeposited on the Steel Surface from a Pyrophosphate Bath
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
See attached file.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Needs heavy proofreading
Structure and grammer needs attantion
Font size and consistency needs revising
Author Response
Reviewer 1
The manuscript needs the following revision to be made before it can be considered for publication in Coatings.
- TG and DSC measurements are missing in this paper.
Answer：Thank you for your suggestion. The TG and DSC data were presented in the revised manuscript.
- Line 158-159, Reference 33 should be referenced in more details. It is clear that some text, tables and figures have common grounds. Some figures are very similar (XRD for example). Authors need to compare both studies and show the differences in order to get a better understanding of the subject under study. Reference 33 contains most of the key words and methodology used in this study. Please elaborate.
Answer: The work about Reference 33 is devoted to the low-temperature preparation of Ni-W alloys. In the present work, properties of three-textured Ni-W alloys were comparatively studied. The differences of Ni-W alloys have analyzed in the revised manuscript. Thank you.
- Line 16, The structure transformation can be resulted from by the bath temperature (Tb)
The structure transformation can be resulted from by the bath temperature (Tb)
Answer: This sentence has been revised in the revised manuscript. Thank you!
- Line 19 and 55, You need to explain the “three alloys”. What are they? See lines 153-154.
Answer: The explanation of “three alloys” has been given in the revised manuscript. Thank you.
- Line 24, The initial HER overpotential of (1 1 1) textured Ni-W alloy is smallest.
The initial HER overpotential of (1 1 1) textured Ni-W alloy is the smallest.
Answer: Thank you very much, according to your suggestion, the sentence has been revised.
- Line 55, … tungstate, CW, and the bath temperature, Tb. à tungstate (CW) and the bath temperature (Tb).
Answer: According to your suggestion, this point has been revised. Thank you.
- Line 60, Please give the chemical composition of the coated steel Q235.
the Fe disks were polished → the Fe disks were ground
Answer: According to your suggestion, the chemical composition of the Q235 steel has given in Table 1 and the word has been revised. Thank you.
- Line 68, the pretreated Fe disks → the pretreated carbon steel disks. Please change it in the whole article.
Answer: According to your suggestion, “the pretreated Fe disks” has been all “the pretreated carbon steel disks”, Thank you.
- Line 76, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS).
Answer: We agree “energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer” to be abbreviated to EDS. Thank you.
- Line 89, polishedwith SiC → ground with SiC.
Answer: According to your suggestion, the word has been revised. Thank you.
- Line 122 and 127, Improvingthe Tb from 40 to 60°C → Increasing the Tb from 40 to 60°C. And elsewhere…
Answer: According to your suggestion, the word has all been revised. Thank you.
- Line 133, Explain Fig 1d. Not mentioned in the text.
Answer: The corresponding explanations about Fig. 1d have been done, please see the revised manuscript. Thank you.
- Line 136-149, There is a general trend but the zigzag behavior cannot be claimed as an increase or decrease function.
Answer: The corresponding explanations were re-written. Thank you.
- Line 150, Make temperature (legend) format the same in “a” and “b” of figure 2. Rescale the W wt% (y-axis) in “b” to give better picture. Start from 20 for example.
Answer: According to your suggestion, the figure readability has been improved. Thank you very much.
- Line 163, Figure 3. The SEM images are not clear and there are no details of the microstructure as expected from the SEM work. The work must be repeated for high quality SEM images to show even the thicknesses of the coating layers.
Answer: According to your suggestion, the magnified SEM images were presented in the revised manuscript. The crystal particles were not observed, however, the crystal particles of Ni-W alloys prepared without additives can be clear observed, see the Ref. 33. One cross-section photograph was gives and the thickness is about 80μm. Thank you.
- Line 243, Table and text is missing the important inhibition efficiency %. Icorris not easy to judge from. Also the trend in Icorr values need explanation. What about Ecorr?
Answer: Ecorr is the corresponding potential of Icorr, which can be obtained by the cross point of the extended lines of cathodic and anodic linear Tafel lines at high polarization region. Ecorr is also estimated by open circuit potential or the cathodic and anodic conversion potential in the Tafel curves. The trend in Icorr values was explained in the revised manuscript. Thank you.
- Line 259-268, Same as the remark above but for EIS.
Answer: The inhibition efficiency can be calculated according to the ratio of Icorr or Rct between blank and coated samples, it is usually used in the system contained inhibitor. Thank you.
- Line 296, the Conclusion needs to be extended.
Answer: The conclusion has been revised. Thank you.
- Applications: Authors need to add possible applications to the studied alloys (and similar) using references. For example see https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2010.06.003 and https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/3/1026
Answer: Thank you for your suggestion. The introduction segment has been revised. Thank you.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Amorphous Ni-W alloys have the smallest stable HER overpotential and the weakest potential decay. Some remarks given to the authors as follows.
1. It is unclear whether the author's something new in this work. According to the evaluation, several published literature by other researchers in the past adequately explain the issues you made in the present paper. Please be careful to highlight in the introduction section anything really innovative in this work.
2. Line 26, please use the extended phrase rather than its initial.
3. Line 29, apart from using Ni-W alloy, coating for improving wear and corrosion resistance, why not using advance composite materials such CFRP and CFRP/Ti6Al4V as explained by Mughal et al. ? Please give a rationalisation and refer the relevant reference as follows: https://doi.org/10.3390/pr11051540
4. Line 52, orientation explanation of (220) and (111) needs to more explanation before used as objective of present study.
5. Line 63, the advantages of its chemical properties need to described.
6. Line 76, detailed procedure for EDX should be given.
7. Line 88, what disc used? It is commercial product or self-made?
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Author Response
Amorphous Ni-W alloys have the smallest stable HER overpotential and the weakest potential decay. Some remarks given to the authors as follows.
It is unclear whether the author's something new in this work. According to the evaluation, several published literature by other researchers in the past adequately explain the issues you made in the present paper. Please be careful to highlight in the introduction section anything really innovative in this work.
Answer: Thank you for your suggestion. The introduction segment has been revised. Thank you.
Line 26, please use the extended phrase rather than its initial.
Answer: Thank you for your suggestion. The corresponding abbreviation has been revised. Thank you.
Line 29, apart from using Ni-W alloy, coating for improving wear and corrosion resistance, why not using advance composite materials such CFRP and CFRP/Ti6Al4V as explained by Mughal et al. ? Please give a rationalization and refer the relevant reference as follows: https://doi.org/10.3390/pr11051540
Answer: The surface engineering technology includes electroplating, thermal spraying, laser cladding and so on. They possess their own strengths. Thank you.
Line 52, orientation explanation of (220) and (111) needs to more explanation before used as objective of present study.
Answer: The explanation about (2 2 0) and (1 1 1) has been given in the revised manuscript. Thank you.
Line 63, the advantages of its chemical properties need to described.
Answer: According to your suggestion, the merit of the pyrophosphate bath was described in the revised manuscript. Thank you.
Line 76, detailed procedure for EDX should be given.
Answer: According to your suggestion, the detailed procedure for EDX has been given in the revised manuscript. Thank you.
Line 88, what disc used? It is commercial product or self-made?
Answer: Self-made carbon steel disks with 10mm diameter and 5mm height was used in this work. Thank you.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
The authors look into the effect of texture on Ni-W alloys on HER and corrosion. Overall the paper is good and publishable with few corrections.
1. The introduction needs to be modified as it does not talk about texture effects on HER or corrosion and rather talks about catalysis in general. At least one or two paragraphs need to included regarding texture effect. (example references: Electrochem comm, 2019, 101, 43; crystengcomm, 2020, 22,4228; Scripta Mater, 2022, 218, 114829; ACS catalysis, 2019, 9 , 3467)
2. For texture analysis, EBSD needs to be shown
3. In figure 10, which W220, WAS and W111 samples were used to test. Was it as deposited or heat treated?
The English is fine
Author Response
Reviewer 3
The authors look into the effect of texture on Ni-W alloys on HER and corrosion. Overall the paper is good and publishable with few corrections.
- The introduction needs to be modified as it does not talk about texture effects on HER or corrosion and rather talks about catalysis in general. At least one or two paragraphs need to included regarding texture effect. (example references:Electrochem comm, 2019, 101, 43; crystengcomm, 2020, 22,4228; Scripta Mater, 2022, 218, 114829; ACS catalysis, 2019, 9, 3467)
Answer: According to your suggestion, the introduction segment has been revised. Thank you.
- For texture analysis, EBSD needs to be shown.
Answer: I am sorry to say the EBSD analysis did not carry out, because of the lack of corresponding equipment. Thank you.
- In figure 10, which W220, WAS and W111 samples were used to test. Was it as deposited or heat treated?
Answer: The as-deposited sample is selected, because the heat-treated Ni-W alloys present low HER activity. And the corresponding explanation has been given in the revised manuscript. Thank you.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Authors made most of the changes but some critical changes were not tackled as follow:
1. SEM images need to be clearer.
2. Inhibition efficiency % must be calculated and added to text and tables.
3. References about applications need to be various although the authors added some.
Better language. Needs some structure improvement.
Author Response
- SEM images need to be clearer.
Answer: The magnified SEM images () were given in the revised manuscript. The crystal particles of WAS with amorphous structure were not still observed, while for W220 and W111 samples, it can be seen the particles. SEM images different magnifications for W220 and WAS samples are shown in Fig. S1 and Fig. S2, respectively. I am sorry that it is difficult to take images with larger magnification using the SEM at present state. Thank you.
Fig. S1 The W220 SEM images with different magnifications.
Fig. S2 The WAS SEM images with different magnifications.
- Inhibition efficiency % must be calculated and added to text and tables.
Answer: According to your suggestion, the inhibition efficiency (IE %) was calculated from Tafel curves and EIS. Thank you.
- References about applications need to be various although the authors added some.
Answer: The introduction segment was rewritten. Thank you.
Comments on the Quality of English Language Better language. Needs some structure improvement.
Answer: Do our best, the quality of English have been improved. Thank you
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Reviewers greatly appreciate the efforts that have been made by the author to improve the quality of their articles after peer review. I reread the author's manuscript and further reviewed the changes made along with the responses from previous reviewers' comments. Unfortunately, the authors failed to make some of the substantial improvements they should have made making this article not of decent quality with biased, not cutting-edge updates on the research topic outlined. In addition, the author also failed to address the previous reviewer's comments, especially on comments number 1 (lack of novel) and 3 (not incorporated the literature). Thank you very much for the opportunity to read the author's current work.
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Author Response
Reviewers greatly appreciate the efforts that have been made by the author to improve the quality of their articles after peer review. I reread the author's manuscript and further reviewed the changes made along with the responses from previous reviewers' comments. Unfortunately, the authors failed to make some of the substantial improvements they should have made making this article not of decent quality with biased, not cutting-edge updates on the research topic outlined. In addition, the author also failed to address the previous reviewer's comments, especially on comments number 1 (lack of novel) and 3 (not incorporated the literature). Thank you very much for the opportunity to read the author's current work.
Answer: The introduction segment has been rewritten and the calculation about IE has been done. Thank you.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 3
Reviewer 1 Report
Looks better now.
Clearer.
Author Response
According to your suggestion, all deficiencies in the article have been corrected
Reviewer 2 Report
My decision still same to reject the article since the authors does not address the previous review report accurately.
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Author Response
We have carefully read the comments of Reviewer 2, two points are focused on, as follows.
- It is unclear whether the author's something new in this work. According to the evaluation, several published literatures by other researchers in the past adequately explain the issues you made in the present paper. Please be careful to highlight in the introduction section anything really innovative in this work.
Answer: In this work, Ni-W alloys with different textures were facilely fabricated from a pyrophosphate bath by adjusting bath temperature and the concentration of tungstate, and the HER and corrosion properties of three textured Ni-W alloys were comparatively studied. Thank you.
- Apart from using Ni-W alloy, coating for improving wear and corrosion resistance, why not using advance composite materials such CFRP and CFRP/Ti6Al4V as explained by Mughal et al.? Please give a rationalization and refer the relevant reference as follows: https://doi.org/10.3390/pr11051540
Answer: Carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRPs) possess high strength-to-weight ratio, excellent corrosion resistance, abrasion resistance and high temperature resistance. Therefore, they have vast applications in aviation and aerospace industries, as reported in the above reference (Coatings, 2023, 11(5), 1540). In fact, carbon fiber, or carbon nanowire, diamond powder and so on, can be reinforced the metal or alloy coatings by composite co-electrodeposition, such as Ni-carbon nanofiber composites (Feng Wang, Susumu Arai, Morinobu Endo, Preparation of nickel–carbon nanofiber composites by a pulse-reverse electrodeposition process, Electrochemistry Communications, Volume 7, Issue 7, 2005, Pages 674-678, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elecom.2005.04.016), Ni-W-carbon fiber Composite Coating (Preparation and Corrosion Resistance of Ni-W-CF Composite Coating on P110 Steel, Coatings 2022, 12(2), 231; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings12020231). The CF or composite materials can be considered in our future study. Thank you.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
