A New Process of Chemical Plating Ni-P Electromagnetic Induction Heating Activation on the Surface of Aluminium Alloy Base Material
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsAn interesting works, but the flow of the works should be improved. In addition the following are the suggestion for improvement:
1. In the abstract please the parameters and range under investigation. This statement is not correct: ion concentration were optimized by orthogonal experiments. Furthermore, State the orthogonal design as well.
Your abstract should include brief introduction, methodology, results and conclusions.
2. Figure 1 is not clear. Change with a high resolution. At the end of the Introduction, state what is you intention in this study.
3. Aluminum alloy plate was chosen as the substrate....why you choose this materials?
4. Provide schematic diagram for your experiment.
5. Provide detail experimental runs for the factors and levels in Table 3.
6. I can not see any difference in figure 2 for (a) and (b).
7. Is Table 5 the result obtained for L9 Taguchi method? If so, state this method in the abstract and methodology. Justify why you used this array. State the statistical method or software you utilize for the analysis.
8.Rewrite you results and discussion by citing the related previous work, and compare with your findings.
Author Response
Commengts 1:In the abstract please the parameters and range under investigation. This statement is not correct: ion concentration were optimized by orthogonal experiments. Furthermore, State the orthogonal design as well. Your abstract should include brief introduction, methodology, results and conclusions
Response 1:The summary has been revised and the parameters and scope of the expedition have been added.
Commengts 2:Figure 1 is not clear. Change with a high resolution. At the end of the Introduction, state what is you intention in this study.
Response 2:Have adjusted the image clarity and added the purpose of the study at the end of the introduction.
Commengts 3:Aluminum alloy plate was chosen as the substrate....why you choose this materials?
Response 3: Because in some special environments, aluminum alloy's own properties can not meet the requirements, such as hardness, corrosion resistance, etc. Therefore, aluminum alloy is selected and its surface treatment is used to enhance its performance.
Commengts 4: Provide schematic diagram for your experiment.
Response 4:A schematic diagram of the experiment has been added.
Commengts 5:Provide detail experimental runs for the factors and levels in Table 3.
Response 5:The experimental factor and level data in Table 3 are derived from a one-way analysis, which is overloaded with data, so simplification is not overstated.
Commengts 6:I can not see any difference in figure 2 for (a) and (b).
Response 6:The difference between (a) and (b) in Fig. 2 mainly lies in the change in water contact angle, which does not change significantly because (b) washed with anhydrous ethanol to remove surface impurities and did not remove the grease.
Commengts 7:Is Table 5 the result obtained for L9 Taguchi method? If so, state this method in the abstract and methodology. Justify why you used this array. State the statistical method or software you utilize for the analysis.
Response 7:Yes, the software used was minitab to analyze the data, and during the experiment it was found that this array had a large impact on the results, so it was explored.
Commengts 8:Rewrite you results and discussion by citing the related previous work, and compare with your findings.
Response 8:In the conclusion, the new process has been compared with the currently used process, which simplifies the experimental procedure and reduces the amount of corrosive drugs. The quality of the final coatings obtained is also relatively good.
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe manuscript titled ‘A new process of chemical plating Ni-P electromagnetic induction heating activation on the surface of aluminum alloy base material’, is clear and well-written. However, to be considered for publication in the Coatings, the authors must revise the manuscript in accordance with the suggestions made in the comments below.
1. The abstract lacks a brief introductory sentence that offers background information and outlines the purpose of the research.
2. The second sentence (‘First of all, the aluminum alloy base material is de-greased, and then put into the electromagnetic induction heating coil to be heated after the surface of the aluminum alloy base material has the water film of activation liquid by soaking in the activation liquid, at the same time, the activation solution is sprayed on the surface of the substrate by an atomizing device, and the activation reaction is completed by the energy generated by high temperature.’) of the abstract is excessively long and difficult to understand as a result. Please shorten it.
3. The ’Experimental’ section should be renamed to ’Materials and Methods’.
4. The authors should emphasize their contribution to existing research in the Results and Discussion section and include additional citations of relevant studies that have addressed this topic.
5. There is a word repetition in the last sentence of the conclusion, specifically '...the new process process proposed...'. Please correct this.
6. The format of the references is inconsistent and does not comply with the formal requirements of the journal Coatings. Please revise and correct them accordingly.
Author Response
Commengts 1:The abstract lacks a brief introductory sentence that offers background information and outlines the purpose of the research.
Response 1:The abstract has been revised to add background information and the purpose of the study.
Commengts 2:The second sentence (‘First of all, the aluminum alloy base material is de-greased, and then put into the electromagnetic induction heating coil to be heated after the surface of the aluminum alloy base material has the water film of activation liquid by soaking in the activation liquid, at the same time, the activation solution is sprayed on the surface of the substrate by an atomizing device, and the activation reaction is completed by the energy generated by high temperature.’) of the abstract is excessively long and difficult to understand as a result. Please shorten it.
Response 2:The length has been simplified, but only the description of the immersion procedure has been shortened to ensure that the procedure is complete.
Commengts 3:The ’Experimental’ section should be renamed to ’Materials and Methods’.
Response 3: The word “Experiments” has been replaced by “Materials and Methods”.
Commengts 4: The authors should emphasize their contribution to existing research in the Results and Discussion section and include additional citations of relevant studies that have addressed this topic.
Response 4:In “Results and Discussion”, the contribution of this study to the existing research is added, and a comparison of commonly used zinc dipping processes is made to highlight the advantages of this process.
Commengts 5:There is a word repetition in the last sentence of the conclusion, specifically '...the new process process proposed...'. Please correct this.
Response 5:Fixed the error in the last sentence of the conclusion.
Commengts 6:The format of the references is inconsistent and does not comply with the formal requirements of the journal Coatings. Please revise and correct them accordingly.
Response 6:I apologize for the reference formatting error, which I have corrected, but the DOI formatting of the article, I don't know how to correct.
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
Manuscript presents an electromagnetic induction assisted electrochemical plating of Al alloy. While the process might be of a potential interest for readers interested in various application, the manuscript could not be accepted for publication in the present form and it should be completely re-written. Beside the fact that biggest part of manuscript is almost ‘unreadable’ due to the phrasing and poor English, there are many missing or misleading information. Also, the authors did not properly explained the aims of the work and consequently manuscript conclusions are also vague. Some punctual examples are presented below:
Abstract:
“First of all, the aluminum alloy base material is degreased, and then put into the electromagnetic induction heating coil to be heated after the surface of the aluminum alloy base material has the water film of activation liquid by soaking in the activation liquid, at the same time, the activation solution is sprayed on the surface of the substrate by an atomizing device, and the activation reaction is completed by the energy generated by high temperature.”
This is not readable
“After activation, a layer of nickel particles is attached to the surface of the substrate, and finally, nickel plating is carried out by using nickel nanoparticles as the catalytic center of ENP.”
What is ENP ? (It was not defined !)
“The substrate heat treatment time, heat treatment temperature, and ion concentration were optimized by orthogonal experiments”
What are “orthogonal experiments” ?
“activated nickel nanoparticles”
What does it means ?
“strong bonding force” ?
What means ‘bonding force’ ?
“bonding is good.”
What means ‘good’ ?
“Therefore, compared with the currently commonly used zinc dipping process, this process has the advantages of simple operation and low cost and is a nondestructive and environmentally friendly activation process for the substrate.”
How about compared performances ?
Introduction:
“With the development of the manufacturing industry, the properties of the aluminum alloy itself can no longer satisfy the application under different environmental conditions,”
Why is that ? (It should be explained and justified)
“The current treatment processes to enhance the surface properties”
What property are intended to be ‘enhanced’ ?
“improvement of the bonding force and uniformity of the chemically plated
coatings”
What means “improvement” ? What is the ‘bonding force’ ? What kind of ‘uniformity’ are having in mind the authors ?
Experimental
“The ultrasonically treated substrate is put into the activation solution for 15~30min, removed, and put the substrate horizontally into the electromagnetic induction heating coil, the use of high-frequency variation of the magnetic field inside the metal to generate eddy currents, the internal free electrons' high-speed friction generates heat, to realize the heating, the use of a digital thermometer (DM6801B) real-time measurements of the surface temperature of the specimen, when the surface temperature reaches 300~400 ° C, using an atomizer at a distance of about 30 cm from the sample with a spray rate of 0.15~0.25 L/min, the activation solution (Table 2) was uniformly sprayed onto the surface of the specimen, and then the activated substrate was put into deionized water for ultrasonic cleaning, and a layer of catalytically active nickel microparticles could be obtained on the surface of the substrate after activation [30-32].”
Phrase is not readable !
“Orthogonal experiments were used to optimize the parameters, and the heating temperature of the substrate, the ionic concentration of the activation solution, and the spray rate ratio, which have a greater influence on the activation process, were taken as factors, and the activation layer coverage was taken as the evaluation index, and the activation layer coverage was calculated by Eq. (1) (mm2), and the process was optimized according to the 9 (3 3) orthogonal test scheme, and the table of the orthogonal experiments was shown in Table 3, and the results of the experiments and the analysis of the extreme deviation were shown in Table 5.”
Phrase is not readable !
Results:
“Reaction equation (2) to start the reaction requires a temperature of only 200 ℃, but in operation, the activation liquid spray will make the substrate surface temperature decrease, so the heating temperature should be higher than 200 ℃, while the temperature is too high sodium hypophosphite will be thermally decomposed to generate sodium pyrophosphate [33], which leads to a reduction of reducing agent, reducing the reduction efficiency, so the temperature is too high will also affect, the inference is consistent with the orthogonal obtained, so the optimal heating temperature is about 300℃.”
Phrase is not readable. ! Furthermore, the fact that the chemical reaction is an endothermal reaction means that the temperature should be kept constant somehow. If authors are considering having an extra “thermal energy” available on the beginning of the process, then they should try to estimate caloric capacity of system, absorbed quantity in the reaction and so on ! The fact that they have used 3000 C in their experiment might not help much the reader since it might be a different setup.
Fig. 3
What means ‘low’, what means ‘high’ rate, what means ‘fast’ ? What means ‘moderate temperature’ ?
“The surface morphology of the activated substrate under the optimal activation conditions”
What are those conditions ???
“The heat source is generated from inside the substrate,…”
What are the source parameters ? What are the field parameters ? What are the effects into the sample (e.g. temperature, absorbed energy, time and so on …)
“After 30 min of chemical nickel plating, the plating was subjected to a thermal shock test with ASTMB571 as the standard”
What parameters these test involved ? Beside ‘cracks’ any other potential effects were monitored ?
Conclusions
“This process can effectively generate a layer of catalytically active nickel nanoparticles ”
The manuscript did not mention any results on the ‘nanoparticles’ presented on the surface, but only about ‘layers’ and about thermal stability and uniformity.
“prepared coating has a strong binding force and meets the standard.”
The manuscript did not present data on the ‘bonding force’ or standards.
Comments on the Quality of English Language
The manuscript should be completely re-written
Author Response
Commengts 1:“First of all, the aluminum alloy base material is degreased, and then put into the electromagnetic induction heating coil to be heated after the surface of the aluminum alloy base material has the water film of activation liquid by soaking in the activation liquid, at the same time, the activation solution is sprayed on the surface of the substrate by an atomizing device, and the activation reaction is completed by the energy generated by high temperature.” This is not readable
Response 1:Changes were made to the phrases.
Commengts 2:“After activation, a layer of nickel particles is attached to the surface of the substrate, and finally, nickel plating is carried out by using nickel nanoparticles as the catalytic center of ENP.”What is ENP ? (It was not defined !)
Response 2: Definitions have been added. It is an advanced surface treatment process that deposits a very uniform, bright and hard nickel-phosphorus-boron alloy coating on the surface of parts by a non-electroplating (chemical) process.
Commengts 3:“The substrate heat treatment time, heat treatment temperature, and ion concentration were optimized by orthogonal experiments”. What are “orthogonal experiments” ?
Response 3: Orthogonal experiments are L9 Taguchi method.
Commengts 4: “activated nickel nanoparticles”. What does it means ?
Response 4:Activated nickel nanoparticles are nickel generated on the surface of the material after activation, which is active and can provide a reaction site for the application of plating.
Commengts 5:“strong bonding force” ?What means ‘bonding force’ ?
Response 5:Strong bonding means that the activation layer cannot be easily separated from the surface of the substrate.
Commengts 6:“bonding is good.” What means ‘good’ ?
Response 6:Good means a good bond between the activation layer and the substrate.
Commengts 7:“Therefore, compared with the currently commonly used zinc dipping process, this process has the advantages of simple operation and low cost and is a nondestructive and environmentally friendly activation process for the substrate.” How about compared performances ?
Response 7:This paper focuses on the description of a new way of chemical plating activation, the new process can also be carried out smoothly and easy to operate and so on. The difference in performance is small, so there is no comparison.
Commengts 8:“With the development of the manufacturing industry, the properties of the aluminum alloy itself can no longer satisfy the application under different environmental conditions,” Why is that ? (It should be explained and justified)
Response 8:For example, in special environments, aluminum alloys cannot satisfy the conditions of hardness and corrosion resistance at the same time, etc. Different application environments have different performance requirements for aluminum alloys.
Commengts 9:“The current treatment processes to enhance the surface properties”
What property are intended to be ‘enhanced’ ?
Response 9:The use of different material surface treatments needs to be selected according to the actual application conditions. And this paper is mainly a study of new processes with no specific environment.
Commengts 10:“improvement of the bonding force and uniformity of the chemically plated
coatings”. What means “improvement” ? What is the ‘bonding force’ ? What kind of ‘uniformity’ are having in mind the authors ?
Response 10:Here is the relevant reference book proposed: dip zinc treatment, can be removed by removing the surface oxide film, so that the substrate table to form a pit, for nickel ions to provide adhesion site, while the nickel generated will be embedded in the surface of the substrate, so the bonding force will be improved. The advantage of chemical plating is the uniformity of the plating layer, the plating layer obtained by deposition, the surface morphology is flat, smooth, there will not be a large number of nanoparticle accumulation.
Commengts 11:“The ultrasonically treated substrate is put into the activation solution for 15~30min, removed, and put the substrate horizontally into the electromagnetic induction heating coil, the use of high-frequency variation of the magnetic field inside the metal to generate eddy currents, the internal free electrons' high-speed friction generates heat, to realize the heating, the use of a digital thermometer (DM6801B) real-time measurements of the surface temperature of the specimen, when the surface temperature reaches 300~400 ° C, using an atomizer at a distance of about 30 cm from the sample with a spray rate of 0.15~0.25 L/min, the activation solution (Table 2) was uniformly sprayed onto the surface of the specimen, and then the activated substrate was put into deionized water for ultrasonic cleaning, and a layer of catalytically active nickel microparticles could be obtained on the surface of the substrate after activation [30-32].” Phrase is not readable !
Response 11:Sentences have been revised.
Commengts 12:“Orthogonal experiments were used to optimize the parameters, and the heating temperature of the substrate, the ionic concentration of the activation solution, and the spray rate ratio, which have a greater influence on the activation process, were taken as factors, and the activation layer coverage was taken as the evaluation index, and the activation layer coverage was calculated by Eq. (1) (mm2), and the process was optimized according to the 9 (3 3) orthogonal test scheme, and the table of the orthogonal experiments was shown in Table 3, and the results of the experiments and the analysis of the extreme deviation were shown in Table 5.” Phrase is not readable !
Response 12:Sentences have been revised.
Commengts 13:“Reaction equation (2) to start the reaction requires a temperature of only 200 ℃, but in operation, the activation liquid spray will make the substrate surface temperature decrease, so the heating temperature should be higher than 200 ℃, while the temperature is too high sodium hypophosphite will be thermally decomposed to generate sodium pyrophosphate [33], which leads to a reduction of reducing agent, reducing the reduction efficiency, so the temperature is too high will also affect, the inference is consistent with the orthogonal obtained, so the optimal heating temperature is about 300℃.”
Phrase is not readable. ! Furthermore, the fact that the chemical reaction is an endothermal reaction means that the temperature should be kept constant somehow. If authors are considering having an extra “thermal energy” available on the beginning of the process, then they should try to estimate caloric capacity of system, absorbed quantity in the reaction and so on ! The fact that they have used 3000 C in their experiment might not help much the reader since it might be a different setup.
Response 13:Sentences have been revised. In chemical reactions, the temperature cannot be kept constant, especially the solution will be affected by the temperature, which will lead to the occurrence of redundant reactive formulas, and it is not possible to accurately control a single reaction to be carried out, so this paper adopts the exploration of a certain range of temperature.
Commengts 14:Fig. 3 What means ‘low’, what means ‘high’ rate, what means ‘fast’ ? What means ‘moderate temperature’ ?
Response 14:Here are the different activation conditions, in the article there are important parameter ranges, low means that the ion concentration is relatively low in the reference range, high means that the temperature is relatively high in the temperature reference range, and fast means that the spray rate is relatively fast. It can be understood as dividing the parameters into three steps, which may not be clearly expressed here.
Commengts 15:“The surface morphology of the activated substrate under the optimal activation conditions”. What are those conditions ???
Response 15: The optimal activation conditions were obtained by L9 Taguchi method:the spray rate is 0.25 L/min; the heat treatment temperature is 300°C~400°C; and the concentration ratio of Ni2+ and H2PO4- ions is 1:6.
Commengts 16:“The heat source is generated from inside the substrate,…”
What are the source parameters ? What are the field parameters ? What are the effects into the sample (e.g. temperature, absorbed energy, time and so on …)
Response 16: Since the heat source is applied from the inside of the substrate to the outside, there is currently no way to detect the internal temperature, there will be heat loss during the heat conduction process, and the experiment is done on the surface of the substrate, so only the surface temperature of the material is monitored in this experiment. The temperature of the surface of the material will have an effect on the activation process, with high temperatures leading to decomposition of sodium hypophosphite and a reduction of the reducing agent.
Commengts 17:“After 30 min of chemical nickel plating, the plating was subjected to a thermal shock test with ASTMB571 as the standard”
What parameters these test involved ? Beside ‘cracks’ any other potential effects were monitored ?
Response 17:The main parameters in these tests are time and temperature, and by far the most obvious effect is “cracks”.
Commengts 18:“This process can effectively generate a layer of catalytically active nickel nanoparticles ”
The manuscript did not mention any results on the ‘nanoparticles’ presented on the surface, but only about ‘layers’ and about thermal stability and uniformity.
Response 18:The nanoparticles described here are the nickel nanoparticles generated after activation, as observed in Figure 5. Its catalytic activity is reflected in the fact that its surface is able to attach a nickel metal layer by plating and can be plated normally.
Commengts 19:“prepared coating has a strong binding force and meets the standard.”
The manuscript did not present data on the ‘bonding force’ or standards.
Response 19:Regarding the standard of “bonding force”, the main embodiment is the thermal shock test, which is standardized in ASTMB571.
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe responds are acceptable.
Author Response
Comments 1:The responds are acceptable.
Response 1:Thank you for your affirmation, I will continue to revise my article and thank you again for taking the time to read my article!
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
In spite of the fact that manuscript presents some information potentially useful for some readers, and also the fact that the authors have ‘tried’ to answer to some raised questions, I still believe, that the manuscripts is still not written in a appropriate manner with some missing and/or misleading information and with poor English in parts of the manuscripts, and, consequently I still believe that it is not appropriate to be accepted in the present form. Below are some more detailed comments:
Abstract
Due to the complexity of the process of commonly used surface treatment processes and the large amount of chemicals used, so this paper proposes a new electromagnetic induction heating activation mode.
“English” !???
First of all, degreasing of aluminum alloy substrates, then put into the electromagnetic induction heating coil heating, at the same time, using the atomization device will activate the liquid sprayed on the surface of the substrate, with high temperature energy to complete the activation reaction, activation will make the surface of the substrate, attached to a layer of nickel particles.
“English” !???
And finally, nickel plating is carried out by using nickel nanoparticles as the catalytic center of ENP. (It is an advanced surface treatment process that deposits a very uniform, bright and hard nickel-phosphorus-boron alloy coating on the surface of parts by a non-electroplating process.).
What is ENP ???
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy spectrometry (EDS), and ultrasonic experiments were used to characterize and analyze the surface morphology, composition, and bond strength of the coatings.
Which particular investigation was actually used to ‘characterize’ or ‘analyze’ the ‘bond strength of the coating’ ?
“Using a nebulizer at a distance of about 30 cm from the sample, spray rate of 0.15~0.25 L/min, spray the activation solution (Table 2) uniformly onto the surface of the specimen, and then the activated substrate is then placed in deionized water for ultrasonic cleaning, and activation results in a layer of catalytically active nickel microparticles on the surface of the substrate [30-32]”
‘English” !???
Conclusion
“This study provides a new thinking direction for the surface treatment process of aluminum alloy, and it is more simple and environmentally friendly than the commonly used treatment process proposed in this paper.”
“English”
Provided answers to the raised questions:
Commengts 4: “activated nickel nanoparticles”. What does it means ?
Response 4:Activated nickel nanoparticles are nickel generated on the surface of the material after activation, which is active and can provide a reaction site for the application of plating.
As long as we are talking about “nanoparticles” they should be somehow characterized and not just “assumed as being”. So, SEM (or better TEM) images should support the “nanoparticles” concept. Otherwise we could talk about “nanoporous” or “amorphous layers” or … something else. Or at least it should be mentioned as “assumptions” and not presented as conclusive facts. If the authors refer to Fig. 5 for supporting the statement, indeed, Fig 5a could potentially support the statement. However, if we are talking about the surface after ultrasonic cleaning, then ‘nanoporous film’ is a more appropriate description. Particularly if we are considering the image from 5d (which, by the way, is having the same scale but present a relatively ‘smooth’ film !)
*****
Comments 5:“strong bonding force” ?What means ‘bonding force’ ?
Response 5:Strong bonding means that the activation layer cannot be easily separated from the surface of the substrate.
Commengts 6:“bonding is good.” What means ‘good’ ?
Response 6:Good means a good bond between the activation layer and the substrate.
If we are considering the manuscript as a “scientific paper” “good”, ‘bad” “easily” should be represented by numbers, or at list comparative experiments or similar. Otherwise they are just “opinions”, “expectations” or “hopes”.
As example the phrase:
“Combined with the analysis of the SEM and EDS results mentioned above, it can be seen that the
activation process can prepare a layer of nickel nanoparticles with a strong binding force on the surface of aluminum alloy.”
It could simply be mention that the bounding is “strong enough” to hold to a ‘X’ minutes ‘Y’ Watt sonication power in “Y liquid” at a temperature … and so on. Otherwise “strong” has no real meaning.
*****************************
Commengts 7:“Therefore, compared with the currently commonly used zinc dipping process, this process has the advantages of simple operation and low cost and is a nondestructive and environmentally friendly activation process for the substrate.” How about compared performances ?
Response 7:This paper focuses on the description of a new way of chemical plating activation, the new process can also be carried out smoothly and easy to operate and so on. The difference in performance is small, so there is no comparison.
What means “small” ?
***************************
Commengts 9:“The current treatment processes to enhance the surface properties”
What property are intended to be ‘enhanced’ ?
Response 9:The use of different material surface treatments needs to be selected according to the actual application conditions. And this paper is mainly a study of new processes with no specific environment.
If “no specific” properties are intended then the sentence should not be present. If is present it should be explained and supported.
****************************
Commengts 13:“Reaction equation (2) to start the reaction requires a temperature of only 200 ℃, but in operation, the activation liquid spray will make the substrate surface temperature decrease, so the heating temperature should be higher than 200 ℃, while the temperature is too high sodium hypophosphite will be thermally decomposed to generate sodium pyrophosphate [33], which leads to a reduction of reducing agent, reducing the reduction efficiency, so the temperature is too high will also affect, the inference is consistent with the orthogonal obtained, so the optimal heating temperature is about 300℃.”
Phrase is not readable. ! Furthermore, the fact that the chemical reaction is an endothermal reaction means that the temperature should be kept constant somehow. If authors are considering having an extra “thermal energy” available on the beginning of the process, then they should try to estimate caloric capacity of system, absorbed quantity in the reaction and so on ! The fact that they have used 3000 C in their experiment might not help much the reader since it might be a different setup.
Response 13:Sentences have been revised. In chemical reactions, the temperature cannot be kept constant, especially the solution will be affected by the temperature, which will lead to the occurrence of redundant reactive formulas, and it is not possible to accurately control a single reaction to be carried out, so this paper adopts the exploration of a certain range of temperature.
Provided information should actually be explained to the reader in the manuscript and with the specific details: explored / optimized range of scanned temperature and obtained results (Even failure results might be useful to support the proposed solution !)
*****************
Comments 14:Fig. 3 What means ‘low’, what means ‘high’ rate, what means ‘fast’ ? What means ‘moderate temperature’ ?
Response 14:Here are the different activation conditions, in the article there are important parameter ranges, low means that the ion concentration is relatively low in the reference range, high means that the temperature is relatively high in the temperature reference range, and fast means that the spray rate is relatively fast. It can be understood as dividing the parameters into three steps, which may not be clearly expressed here.
“Concepts” as “high”, “low”, “fast” should be replaced with numbers wherever possible. Where it is not (and I understand that this might be the case here) it should be at least explained in comparison with other cases (higher then … or lower then) with the corresponding examples. Otherwise these statements has no meaning.
******************
What are the source parameters ? What are the field parameters ? What are the effects into the sample (e.g. temperature, absorbed energy, time and so on …)
Response 16: Since the heat source is applied from the inside of the substrate to the outside, there is currently no way to detect the internal temperature, there will be heat loss during the heat conduction process, and the experiment is done on the surface of the substrate, so only the surface temperature of the material is monitored in this experiment. The temperature of the surface of the material will have an effect on the activation process, with high temperatures leading to decomposition of sodium hypophosphite and a reduction of the reducing agent.
Still it is ‘unreasonable’ to don’t give information about the used heating system and some parameters.
Comments on the Quality of English Language
English language is not acceptable
Author Response
Commengts 1:Due to the complexity of the process of commonly used surface treatment processes and the large amount of chemicals used, so this paper proposes a new electromagnetic induction heating activation mode.
“English” !???
Response 1:Changes have been made to the phrases.
Commengts 2:First of all, degreasing of aluminum alloy substrates, then put into the electromagnetic induction heating coil heating, at the same time, using the atomization device will activate the liquid sprayed on the surface of the substrate, with high temperature energy to complete the activation reaction, activation will make the surface of the substrate, attached to a layer of nickel particles.
“English” !???
Response 2:Changes have been made to the phrases.
Commengts 3:And finally, nickel plating is carried out by using nickel nanoparticles as the catalytic center of ENP. (It is an advanced surface treatment process that deposits a very uniform, bright and hard nickel-phosphorus-boron alloy coating on the surface of parts by a non-electroplating process.).
What is ENP ???
Response 3:ENP is an advanced surface treatment process that deposits a very uniform, In this article, we refer to chemical plating.
Commengts 4: Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy spectrometry (EDS), and ultrasonic experiments were used to characterize and analyze the surface morphology, composition, and bond strength of the coatings.
Which particular investigation was actually used to ‘characterize’ or ‘analyze’ the ‘bond strength of the coating’ ?
Response 4:Both ultrasonic experiment and thermal shock test are used to characterize and analyze the bond strength, after ultrasonic experiment, the surface of the substrate still has a large number of nano-adhesion, and then through the SEM observation of the surface, as shown in Fig. 5, the nano-layer is relatively intact, no cracks.
Commengts 5:“Using a nebulizer at a distance of about 30 cm from the sample, spray rate of 0.15~0.25 L/min, spray the activation solution (Table 2) uniformly onto the surface of the specimen, and then the activated substrate is then placed in deionized water for ultrasonic cleaning, and activation results in a layer of catalytically active nickel microparticles on the surface of the substrate [30-32]”
‘English” !???
Response 5:Changes have been made to the phrases.
Commengts 6:“This study provides a new thinking direction for the surface treatment process of aluminum alloy, and it is more simple and environmentally friendly than the commonly used treatment process proposed in this paper.”
“English”
Response 6:Changes have been made to the phrases.
Commengts 7:As long as we are talking about “nanoparticles” they should be somehow characterized and not just “assumed as being”. So, SEM (or better TEM) images should support the “nanoparticles” concept. Otherwise we could talk about “nanoporous” or “amorphous layers” or … something else. Or at least it should be mentioned as “assumptions” and not presented as conclusive facts. If the authors refer to Fig. 5 for supporting the statement, indeed, Fig 5a could potentially support the statement. However, if we are talking about the surface after ultrasonic cleaning, then ‘nanoporous film’ is a more appropriate description. Particularly if we are considering the image from 5d (which, by the way, is having the same scale but present a relatively ‘smooth’ film !)
Response 7:In Fig. 5a, using SEM maps, it is clearly observed that a layer of nickel was generated on the surface of the substrate after activation, and diameter measurements were taken for individual nickel, which may not be clear enough in Fig. 5a and has been modified. Because the diameter of the measured particles is 101 nm, the “nanoparticles” used in the text go to describe it.
Commengts 8:If we are considering the manuscript as a “scientific paper” “good”, ‘bad” “easily” should be represented by numbers, or at list comparative experiments or similar. Otherwise they are just “opinions”, “expectations” or “hopes”.
As example the phrase:
“Combined with the analysis of the SEM and EDS results mentioned above, it can be seen that the
activation process can prepare a layer of nickel nanoparticles with a strong binding force on the surface of aluminum alloy.”
It could simply be mention that the bounding is “strong enough” to hold to a ‘X’ minutes ‘Y’ Watt sonication power in “Y liquid” at a temperature … and so on. Otherwise “strong” has no real meaning.
Response 8:You are right that the illustration should be backed up with concrete data, so I added the power of the ultrasound as well as the time here. Since the bond strength measured in this way can only be determined by the surface, the integrity of the surface becomes the criterion.
Commengts 9:What means “small” ?
Response 9:Small means that there is little difference in performance between the new process and the samples prepared by the commonly used process. For better comparison, the pictures of the samples after thermal shock test under common process conditions are added here.
Commengts 10:If “no specific” properties are intended then the sentence should not be present. If is present it should be explained and supported.
Response 10:The original intention of this sentence is to express that the enhancement of a certain property of the surface of the material, depending on the requirements of the use of the appropriate process to choose. For example, if you want to improve the surface hardness, you should choose the optimal process to enhance the hardness. The expression has been modified.
Commengts 11:Provided information should actually be explained to the reader in the manuscript and with the specific details: explored / optimized range of scanned temperature and obtained results (Even failure results might be useful to support the proposed solution !)
Response 11:In this paper, the range of each optimization parameter has been provided in the abstract and the range of the parameter is taken for the one-factor experiment. Modifications have been made against the sentence and the results obtained have been added.
Commengts 12:“Concepts” as “high”, “low”, “fast” should be replaced with numbers wherever possible. Where it is not (and I understand that this might be the case here) it should be at least explained in comparison with other cases (higher then … or lower then) with the corresponding examples. Otherwise these statements has no meaning.
Response 12:You're right, it should be represented as a parameter, so the modification here is to parameterize it.
Commengts 13:Still it is ‘unreasonable’ to don’t give information about the used heating system and some parameters.
Response 13:I apologize for not getting your point the first time. Here is the following explanation: the equipment used in the experiment, is a homemade device, here to provide the power of the device operating voltage:12-48V Maximum operating voltage: 48V Maximum operating power: 1000W Maximum operating current: 20A, coil diameter 10cm, the following picture of the homemade device.