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Topic · Polymers and Plastics

Flame retardant materials and properties

Flame retardant materials and properties is a research topic within Polymers and Plastics. Science Explorer counts 17k research works in it since 1950. 9.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the recent advancements in flame retardant polymer materials, including the development of halogen-free flame retardants, nanocomposites, phosphorus-based flame retardants, intumescent polymers, and the flame retardancy of textiles. The research covers a wide range of topics such as thermal properties, combustion behavior, and the development of novel flame retardant coatings for various polymeric materials.

  • Flame Retardant Polymers
  • Fire-Retardant Materials
  • Nanocomposites
  • Phosphorus-based Flame Retardants
  • Intumescent Polymers
  • Polymer Nanocomposites
  • Epoxy Resins
  • Graphene-based Flame Retardants
  • Halogen-Free Flame Retardants
  • Textile Flame Retardancy
Research works
17k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.6k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+51%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
71% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Flame retardant materials and properties

Which countries lead Flame retardant materials and properties research?

By volume, China and India publish the most (2.9k and 240 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 2.9k works
  2. 2 India 240 works
  3. 3 United States 213 works
  4. 4 France 126 works
  5. 5 South Korea 110 works
  6. 6 Türkiye 109 works
  7. 7 Russia 103 works
  8. 8 Germany 87 works
  9. 9 Australia 83 works
  10. 10 Poland 78 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 71.5%India: 6.0%United States: 5.3%France: 3.1%6 others listed: 14.2%71%largest
China2,874 · 71.5%India240 · 6.0%United States213 · 5.3%France126 · 3.1%6 others listed570 · 14.2%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Flame retardant materials and properties research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of Science and Technology of China publishes the most Flame retardant materials and properties research, followed by Chinese Academy of Sciences and Sichuan University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 99 works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 86 works
  3. 3 Sichuan UniversityChina 74 works
  4. 4 Qingdao UniversityChina 66 works
  5. 5 Qingdao University of Science and TechnologyChina 66 works
  6. 6 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 63 works
  7. 7 Beijing University of Chemical TechnologyChina 56 works
  8. 8 Beijing Institute of TechnologyChina 55 works
  9. 9 Nanjing Tech UniversityChina 48 works
  10. 10 Wuhan University of TechnologyChina 48 works

Who are the leading researchers in Flame retardant materials and properties?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Flame retardant materials and properties include Róbert Langer, Wei Huang and Ben Zhong Tang.

  1. 1 Róbert Langer United States 303k citations
  2. 2 Wei Huang China 267k citations
  3. 3 Ben Zhong Tang China 261k citations
  4. 4 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  5. 5 Seeram Ramakrishna Singapore 186k citations
  6. 6 Markus Antonietti Germany 185k citations
  7. 7 Qiang Zhang China 184k citations
  8. 8 Krzysztof Matyjaszewski United States 165k citations
  9. 9 Han Zhang China 161k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Flame retardant materials and properties?

The most cited paper in Flame retardant materials and properties is "Phosphorus flame retardants: Properties, production, environmental occurrence, toxicity and analysis" (Ike van der Veen, J. de Boer, 2012), with 2,887 citations. Next come "Surface modification of inorganic nanoparticles for development of organic–inorganic nanocomposites—A review" (2,154) and "The effects of temperature and frequency on the dielectric properties, electromagnetic interference shielding and microwave-absorption of short carbon fiber/silica composites" (1,889).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Phosphorus flame retardants: Properties, production, environmental occurrence, toxicity and analysis Ike van der Veen, J. de Boer · Chemosphere 24 Apr 2012 2,887
2 Surface modification of inorganic nanoparticles for development of organic–inorganic nanocomposites—A review Sarita Kango, Susheel Kalia, Annamaria Celli et al. · Progress in Polymer Science 7 Mar 2013 2,154
3 The effects of temperature and frequency on the dielectric properties, electromagnetic interference shielding and microwave-absorption of short carbon fiber/silica composites Mao‐Sheng Cao, Wei‐Li Song, Zhi‐Ling Hou et al. · Carbon 24 Oct 2009 1,889
4 Thermal stability and flame retardancy of polyurethanes Dipak Kumar Chattopadhyay, Dean C. Webster · Progress in Polymer Science 25 Jun 2009 1,750
5 Brominated flame retardants: cause for concern? Linda S. Birnbaum, Daniele F. Staskal · Environmental Health Perspectives Open access 17 Oct 2003 1,708
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Flame retardant materials and properties research done?

The largest centres of Flame retardant materials and properties research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Qingdao (China), Nanjing (China) and Hefei (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Toowoomba and Changzhou.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 392 works
  2. 2 QingdaoChina 167 works
  3. 3 NanjingChina 157 works
  4. 4 HefeiChina 142 works
  5. 5 WuhanChina 141 works
  6. 6 ChengduChina 138 works
  7. 7 ShanghaiChina 134 works
  8. 8 Xi'anChina 103 works
  9. 9 HangzhouChina 93 works
  10. 10 GuangzhouChina 82 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. ToowoombaAU · 24.0 works35×
  2. ChangzhouCN · 34.3 works15×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Flame retardant materials and properties than the world average.

See Flame retardant materials and properties on the map

Where is the best place to study Flame retardant materials and properties?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Southern Queensland, University of Science and Technology of China and Sichuan University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 21.36%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Southe…Sichuan UniversityQingdao UniversityUniversity of Scienc…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of Southern QueenslandAustralia 78.842.9%42.4×24 +132.8%
2University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 65.714.5%19.8×99 +11.9%
3Sichuan UniversityChina 65.221.4%7.8×74 +20.3%
4Qingdao UniversityChina 63.420.5%23.1×66 +98.2%
5Beijing University of Chemical TechnologyChina 60.020.7%30.6×56 +106.5%
6Wuhan Textile UniversityChina 59.131.0%36.7×23 +231.9%
7Qingdao University of Science and TechnologyChina 58.015.6%42.8×66 +156.3%
8Wuhan University of TechnologyChina 56.614.8%14.2×48 +62.4%
9Beijing Institute of TechnologyChina 55.513.0%11.0×55 +61.2%
10Zhejiang A & F UniversityChina 50.619.2%27.7×18 +84.0%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Flame retardant materials and properties, country by country

Is Flame retardant materials and properties research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 51% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Flame retardant materials and properties.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Flame retardant materials and properties as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.021% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Flame retardant materials and properties0.021% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Flame retardant materials and properties over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Flame retardant materials and properties9.7% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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