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PLOS ONE

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Kindly incorporate more references up to 50 for quantitative realization of paper.

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Experimental study on the mechanism of surface damage induced by abrasive particles under heavy-load line-contact sliding-rolling conditions

PONE-D-25-45212R1

Dear Author

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Kind regards,

Pankaj Tomar

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Kindly include a few references (50 to 60) for academic rendering at large. Good luck

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

Reviewer #3: (No Response)

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions??>

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Partly

Reviewer #3: Partly

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? -->?>

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: I Don't Know

Reviewer #3: Yes

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4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available??>

The PLOS Data policy

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English??>

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: 1. The performance parameters of the lubricating oil should be specified. The viscosity of the lubricating oil directly affects the thickness of the oil film, and the film thickness is closely related to whether the abrasive particles could enter the frictional interface.

2. Fig.5: There are Chinese words in the picture. The data graphs only show the average values without labelling the error bars, (Fig.6, 7, 8, etc.).

3. Conclusion: As the size of the abrasive particles increases, the surface roughness decreases and then increases, and the volume and number of pits increases. There is a contradiction in this phenomenon. Roughness decreases and then increases because the surface tends to be flat and then becomes rough, and the increase in the number and volume of pits means that the surface damage is worsening. How can “surface flattening” and “continuous increase in pits” occur simultaneously on the surface morphology?

4. The negative wear in the experimental results was caused by the attachment of abrasive particles after deformation or by errors in balance measurements. Due to the specificity of this phenomenon, the authors should explain it further. To confirm the presence of abrasive particles, the component of abrasive particles on a surface could be detected by XRD or EDS.

5. Please refer to the journal's requirements to modify the format of diagrams and references.

Reviewer #3: 1. The novelty of the current work is unclear. The authors should clearly identify what new mechanism, relationship, or model is being revealed that advances understanding beyond existing literature.

2. Include a comparative discussion with previous works to show how this study extends or refines prior findings.

3. Please include the standard deviation to Figures 6-21.

4. The results section is highly descriptive but lacks quantitative interpretation or mechanistic reasoning. Please discuss the dominant wear mechanisms (abrasive wear, fatigue, micro-pitting) based on morphology and data trends.

5. The conclusions are mostly repetitive summaries. Please highlight the main findings.

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