From: asthanar@uwstout.edu To: pksinghcommunications@gmail.

com CC: Subject: Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance - Decision on Manuscript ID JMEP-12-12-4210 Body: @@date to be populated upon sending@@ Dear Dr. Singh: I write you in regards to manuscript # JMEP-12-12-4210 entitled "Prediction of Surface Roughness using Response Surface Methodology with Box- Cox Transformation" which you submitted to the Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance. In view of the criticisms of the reviewer(s) found at the bottom of this letter, your manuscript has been denied publication in the Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance. Thank you for considering the Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance for the publication of your research. I hope the outcome of this specific submission will not discourage you from the submission of future manuscripts. Sincerely, Dr. Rajiv Asthana Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance asthanar@uwstout.edu Reviewer(s)' Comments to Author: The authors experimentally studied wet turning of AISI 1019 steel using carbide insert nose radius, depth of cut, feed and cutting speeds as variables and invoked response surface methodology and B-C transformation in conjunction with ANOVA to examine the effect of turning variables on roughness. This kind of work on common carbon steels has been extensively reported in the published literature. The paper lacks novelty. It is also not a materials science or materials engineering paper as there is virtually no effort to evaluate the effect of materials parameters. There is no effort at in-depth discussion of the results based on the fundamental knowledge of the material behavior. The narrative presentation under Results and Discussion section does not shed light on the mechanisms, changes in the microstructure, and the relationship of microstructure changes to the response of tool and work materials. The manuscript essentially is focused on demonstrating an application of the DoE approach to turning operation rather than providing insights into underlying materials phenomena. I am sorry to disappoint the authors expectations but this manuscript, despite its merits, is not suitable for publication in JMEP, in this reviewers opinion. The manuscript lacks materials engineering focus. Had the authors evaluated metallurgical/materials changes in the surface and subsurface regions during turning of a relatively novel material (e.g., ultra-fine grained steels as opposed to 1019 steel) and correlated such microstructural changes to the machining parameters, the work may have been of interest to the materials engineer. The recommendation to reject is not a reflection on the scientific quality of the authors' research.

Date Sent: 08-Jan-2013