Effects of Wire Drawing and Annealing Conditions on Torsional Ductility of Cold Drawn and Annealed Hyper-Eutectoid Steel Wires
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This article studies the effect of microstructure on the torsion of steel wires with a carbon composition between 0.77 – 2%. It is studied how torsional ductility is affected by galvanizing, hardening due to drawing and subsequent annealing. It is shown how the orientation of the cementite lamellae has a significant influence on the torsional ductility. The topic is of interest to the Journal “Metals”. The study of wire cold drawing ductility is a widely discussed topic. However, some revisions need to be addressed in the present form of the paper to be considered for publication in this journal.
1) The introduction section of this paper is coarse and very short. It is recommended to add novel publications to describe the state of art of this topic like, fatigue crack paths and galvanized coating in metals. Accordingly, please review the following recent articles and its references DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ma8115388 and https://doi.org/10.3390/ma10030264
2) It is important to comment on some articles that talk about new techniques such as Ultra-Fast Annealing Treatment. Technique that can improve the torsional ductility of wire drawing. Accordingly, please review the following recent articles and its references DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/met9121253 and https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2019.03.007.
3) It is necessary to describe in detail the rationale of this manuscript. What is bringing new compared with similar research.
Minor revisions
- In the abstract it says “NT” it should say “number of turns to failure”
- The quality of Fig.1 y Fig.2 must be improved. The font size used is very small.
Author Response
I appreciate very much for the reviewer¢s comments. Those are very helpful and constructive. According to the reviewer¢s comments, the manuscript has been carefully revised. The details of the revisions made are shown in the attached file.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
From tensile test only tensile strength was determined, it is insufficient. Ductility (percent elongation at failure) and percentage reduction of area, yield strength are also very important for the characterization of the material - please add (you must have the results from the tensile test). If you measured with an extensometer - also add the strain hardening index and the modulus of elasticity.
Author Response
I appreciate very much for the reviewer¢s comments. Those are very helpful and constructive. According to the reviewer¢s comments, the manuscript has been carefully revised. The details of the revisions made are shown in the attached file.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
The manuscript describes the study of the microstructural features effects of on torsional ductility of cold drawn and annealed hyper-eutectoid steel. In my opinion the manuscript is written very carefully and clearly, contains the original and interesting results. I recommend publishing this manuscript after small corrections.
- Please remove the NT abbreviation from the abstract or give a clarification what it means in the abstract (line 19).
- It is written that “Hot rolled wire rods with an initial diameter of 13mm were cold drawn to 4.9mm.” (line 59). It means that the total cross-section reduction is 8.1mm, that corresponds to the 62%. However in the manuscript it is 85.5%. Please check this value.
- What explains the increase of the NT, observed between 10 and 30 sec of annealing (Fig. 2b)? What changes in microstructure are responsible for this growth?
Author Response
I appreciate very much for the reviewer¢s comments. Those are very helpful and constructive. According to the reviewer¢s comments, the manuscript has been carefully revised. The details of the revisions made are shown in the attached file.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Described results from tensile test can be included to conclusion.
Author Response
We appreciate very much for the comments made by the reviewer. Those are reasonable and constructive. Our paper has been revised according to the reviewer's comments
(Reviewer's comments)
Described results from tensile test can be included to conclusion.
(Author's answer)
We added the indicated content to conclusions
<Before correction>
line 291-293 :
“4. It was found that among microstructural features, the shape and orientation of lamellar cementite showed the significant effect on torsional ductility of cold drawn and annealed hyper-eutectoid steel wires.”
<After correction>
“4. It was found that among microstructural features, the shape and orientation of lamellar cementite showed the significant effect on torsional ductility of cold drawn and annealed hyper-eutectoid steel wires.
5. Other ductility parameters of RA and EL showed the different behaviors from NT in cold drawn and/or annealed steel wires. During wire drawing, EL decreased continuously with drawing strain due to work hardening of lamellar ferrite, while the variation of RA with drawing strain was described as the sequential behavior; increasing, showing the maximum peak, and decreasing continuously after the peak. Meanwhile, during the post-deformation annealing at 500°C, the increase of annealing time in steel wires drawn with a strain of 1.95 resulted in the increase of EL and the decrease of RA.”
