A Study of the Structure and Physicochemical Properties of the Mixed Basicity Iron Ore Sinter
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
1. The introduction part of the paper is too complex and long, please simplify the relevant content.
2. In the introduction section, please briefly describe the research content and highlights of the paper.
3. It is suggested to transfer Figure 3 and the purity of iron essence powder and other related contents to "2. Materials and Methods".
4. Firstly, please give PDF numbers for all relevant phases in FIG. 4; secondly, M14O20 is only the phase proportion on the PDF card; in fact, the peak positions of XRD of sints are not exactly matched with those of PDF cards; therefore, the qualitative analysis results of XRD are not enough to indicate the composition of SFCA phases in sints and cannot be simply summarized as M14O20.
5. How was the phase ratio of different sinter shown in Table 5 obtained? If it was obtained by XRD phase refinement, please give the fitting error, if it was determined by other methods, please explain.
6. "Up to a basicity of 0.5" is written in line 261 of the paper, but there is no sample with Basicity of 0.5 in the sinter sample described in the paper, and "basicity 0.4 - 0.7" is also not mentioned in line 275.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Please see the attachment.
Best regards, coauthors.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
In this work, the influence of sinter basicity on the microstructure, phase composition, and physicochemical and metallurgical properties, samples of agglomerates with different basicities were sintered. The logic of the article is smooth, and the results of the experiment are also highly relevant. The article is generally interesting. The following are some problems in the article.
1. The length of the introduction is not enough. The article can add some relevant literature introduction of the influence of alkalinity on sinter, so that the introduction part is more systematic.
2. In 163 lines ~ 165 lines of the formula to be numbered
3. In 255 lines ~ 256 lines, when the polymorphic transformation β-2СаО∙SiO2 → 2СаО∙SiO2, the volume increased by 11 % (phase transformation).How is this measured, is there data support ?
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Please see the attachment.
Best regards, coauthors.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
This manuscript comprehensively evaluated the structure, composition, and chemical properties of sintered ore by sintering and studied the agglomerates with different basicity. Then, the effects of sinter basicity on microstructure and phase composition were explored. The research content and results are beneficial for the improvement of sintering quality. Therefore, it is recommended to publish after the following minor revisions.
1. Lots of work about SFCA has been done in the previous research. What is the reason and originality of the present manuscript?
2. From Figure 7, it can be seen that the particle size and shape of the ore do not change with basicity. This is inconsistent with the text description (page 12).
3. An optimal basicity value should be given by the authors’ work.
4. Does the magnetite directly dissolve in the silicate component? Or first is oxidized and then dissolve?
5. The authors gave some explanation and discussion on the experimental results. Some references supported the discussion also should be given.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Please see the attachment.
Best regards, coauthors.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 4 Report
The paper is reasonably well written and covers a topic of significant interest to those involved in iron ore sinter production and blast furnace operation. However, there are a range of instances in the paper where amendments are required to improve understanding and correct apparent errors as follows:
Line 48 The sentence "In the first stage ...." is repeated.
Line 153 The sentence needs a verb, eg, "was".
Figure 5 The definition of the symbols is difficult to see.
Line 210 The reference presumably should be to "specific density".
Line 229 It is not clear what is meant by "basicity samples".
Line 272 Presume "high base values" should read "high basicity values".
Line 275 It is not clear what "iron flux" means.
Line 278 Presume "medium basic sinter" should read "medium basicity sinter".
Line 284 Replace "carbon oxide" with "carbon monoxide".
Lines 289-291 Sentence is not clear and needs to be rewritten.
Figure 9 The definition of the vertical axis needs to be more specific, not just "Quantity", and the nature of the two plots in (b) needs to be defined, ie what are the two plots?
Lines 333-334 The sentence is incomplete.
Line 360 What is meant by the "grinding process"?
Figure 11 The caption needs to be amended, eg, by ending ".....of sinter on sinter basicity".
Figure 13f Is this really for sample No 22, or should it be sample No 20 ?
Figure 14b Further explanation is required, because it is not clear what is being plotted.
The quality of the English language in the paper is good and only minor corrections are required, eg, matching the single subject of a sentence to the corresponding singular verb form.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Please see the attachment.
Best regards, coauthors.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors have made appropriate changes to the issues raised in the initial review.
