Surface Modification of AM60 Mg-Al Alloy with Vanadium and V2O5 Sputtered Deposits: Activity in Marine Ambience
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsReviewer Comment
Manuscript Number: Coatings-3130050
Dear Editor,
The overall quality of the submitted manuscript can be improved through these modifications:
1-Figure 1 d does not exist. nieher EDS analysis nor SEM.
2-The authors are required to carefully rearrange the line 147-155.
3-zone 8 does not exist !
4-The relationship between Figure 6 (a &b) with Figure 6 (c & d) needs further clarification.
5- The reference styles are not consistent. Just for example, years are bold for some references while not for other references.
Author Response
Reviewer 1 reports: The overall quality of the submitted manuscript can be improved through these modifications.
Rev.1: Figure 1 d does not exist. neither EDS analysis nor SEM.
Veleva L.: It’s true, the Figure 1d does not exist (Figure 2)
2-The authors are required to carefully rearrange the line 147-155.
Veleva L.: The lines 147-155 have been rearranged
Rev.1: 3-zone 8 does not exist
Veleva L.: It’s true, the zone 8 does not exist in the SEM images (Figure 2) and its corresponding EDS analysis was removed from the Table 1.
Rev.1 4-The relationship between Figure 6 (a &b) with Figure 6 (c & d) needs further clarification.
Veleva L.: The new figure numbers are Figures 7 (a,b) and Figures 7 (c.d). In Figure 7d a zoom image was inserted. The paragraph below was rearranged.
“To collaborate with the SEM-EDS, XPS analysis was carried out (Figures 7c,d). The XPS V2p analysis confirmed the presence of and ion signals as a part of the Vanadium sputtered deposit (Figure 7c), while the sputtered deposits (Figure 7d) showed those signals of binding energy at a very low level, confirming the dissolution (reaction 2) during the 30 days of immersion in SME solution, because of the presence of NaCl ions”.
Rev.1 5- The reference styles are not consistent. Just for example, years are bold for some references while not for other references.
Veleva L.: The years not bold correspond to cited Books.
The authors appreciate your comments, to eliminate errors and improve the article.
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear authors
You carried out nice work.
Some improvements are needed before publication:
- The process of coating should be described detailer; sketch is needed.
- In Discussion a short comparison with results of similar experimetal works is recommendable.
Author Response
Reviewer 2 reports: You carried out nice work. Some improvements are needed before publication:
- The process of coating should be described detailer; sketch is needed.
Veleva L. : a sketch is added as Figure 1, that presents the details of the DC magnetron sputtering (Figure 1a) and DC magnetron reactive sputtering (Figure 1b) processes.
- In Discussion a short comparison with results of similar experimental works is recommendable.
Veleva L.: Similar experiments and analyses of Vanadium and V2O5 deposits, DC sputtered on Mg-Al alloys (AM60) have not been reported. For this reason, we have not presented a comparison of our results.
The authors appreciate your comments improving the article.
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsIn this manuscript, the authors prepared V-AM60 and V2O5-AM60 samples via DC magnetron sputtering techniques. The characterization of samples is conducted, and the corresponding performance in corrosion resistance and related mechanism have also been studied. The work is completed and meaningful, while minor revision is suggested before acceptance. Detailed comments are below.
1. Besides PVD, there exists many other coting methods to improve the corrosion resistance, such as the electrochemical deposition, which has been widely employed on the coating preparation over metals or conductive material. Please refer to https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmapro.2023.10.085. It is suggested to added proper discussion in the background introduction section.
2. The original surface quality, such as surface roughness and morphology, may significantly affect the coating performance. After polished with sandpaper sheets, how to guarantee the consistence of different sample? In addition, how about the surface roughness after polishing?
3. Since the coting thickness for V-AM60 and V2O5-AM60 are different, will such difference affect the performance in terms of pH/Mg2+ ion evolution and corrosion resistance? If not, how to exclude this influence?
Author Response
Reviewer 3 reports: In this manuscript, the authors prepared V-AM60 and V2O5-AM60 samples via DC magnetron sputtering techniques. The characterization of samples is conducted, and the corresponding performance in corrosion resistance and related mechanism have also been studied. The work is completed and meaningful, while minor revision is suggested before acceptance. Detailed comments are below.
- Besides PVD, there exists many other coting methods to improve the corrosion resistance, such as the electrochemical deposition, which has been widely employed on the coating preparation over metals or conductive material. Please refer to https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmapro.2023.10.085. It is suggested to added proper discussion in the background introduction section.
Veleva L.: Among many more applications, the electrodeposition process has been applied to grow metallic and alloy coatings, as well as transition metal oxides (as electrodes for supercapacitor application, for example). However, it is known that because of constrained deposition parameters, it is difficult to achieve uniform coatings. In the introductory part we have tried to reference articles related mainly to the deposition of V-compound on metal substrate. However, we accepted your recommendation, and we included the new reference [34] based on electrodeposition of V2O5, although on carbon fiber cloth (no metallic substrate).
[34] Rajavel Velayutham, R.; Manikandan, R.; Raj, C.J.; Marotrao, K.; Kaya, C.; Palanisamy, K.; Kim, B.C. Electrodeposition of vanadium pentoxide on carbon fiber cloth as a binder-free electrode for high-performance asymmetric supercapacitor. J. Alloys Compd. 2021, 863, 158332; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2020.158332
- The original surface quality, such as surface roughness and morphology, may significantly affect the coating performance. After polished with sandpaper sheets, how to guarantee the consistence of different sample? In addition, how about the surface roughness after polishing?
Veleva L.: A higher substrate roughness may lead to a less uniform deposit, but this will have better adhesion; while a lower substrate roughness may guarantee a higher deposit uniformity, but with a lower adhesion to the substrate. Based on our previous experiments, we have considered a polishing degree of 1000, obtaining a good adhesion of the deposit to the AM60 (Mg-Al alloy) substrate, but with a not totally uniform deposit surface. (In the case of AM60, the presence of intermetallic particles and secondary phases existing on the surface of this Mg-Al alloy must be considered).
- Since the coting thickness for V-AM60 and V2O5-AM60 are different, will such difference affect the performance in terms of pH/Mg2+ion evolution and corrosion resistance? If not, how to exclude this influence?
Veleva L.: The difference in pH/Mg2+ ion change in time is a result of the different deposit behavior exposed to aqueous solution of NaCl (the main component) of a marine environment. We mention in our text that “The shift in time of pH to more alkaline values (reaction 1), was less pronounced for deposit than that of Vanadium on AM60 surface, which fact may attribute to the formation of HCl acid. Since the thin nano-film of is gradually dissolving, the surface of the Mg (AM60) matrix is ​​more exposed to deterioration and as an indication was the higher concentration of ions release”. For this reason we consider that the 80 nm difference in thickness of the deposits should be excluded.
The authors appreciate your comments improving the article.
