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Topic · Materials Chemistry

Fusion materials and technologies

Fusion materials and technologies is a research topic within Materials Chemistry. Science Explorer counts 31k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the materials challenges in fusion energy research, including radiation damage, plasma-facing components, irradiation-resistant steels, tungsten alloys, neutron irradiation effects, oxide dispersion-strengthened steels, and the development of interatomic potentials and molecular dynamics simulations for studying material behavior under fusion-relevant conditions.

  • fusion materials
  • radiation damage
  • plasma-facing components
  • irradiation-resistant steels
  • tungsten alloys
  • neutron irradiation effects
  • oxide dispersion-strengthened steels
  • structural materials
  • interatomic potential
  • molecular dynamics simulations
Research works
31k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-4%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
39% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Fusion materials and technologies

Which countries lead Fusion materials and technologies research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (1.5k and 789 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 1.5k works
  2. 2 United States 789 works
  3. 3 Russia 324 works
  4. 4 Japan 253 works
  5. 5 Germany 236 works
  6. 6 France 218 works
  7. 7 United Kingdom 181 works
  8. 8 India 140 works
  9. 9 Italy 138 works
  10. 10 South Korea 117 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: 38.7%United States: 20.2%Russia: 8.3%Japan: 6.5%6 others listed: 26.3%39%largest
China1,515 · 38.7%United States789 · 20.2%Russia324 · 8.3%Japan253 · 6.5%6 others listed1,029 · 26.3%

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

Which institutions lead Fusion materials and technologies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Fusion materials and technologies research, followed by Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 268 works
  2. 2 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 91 works
  3. 3 Oak Ridge National LaboratoryUnited States 88 works
  4. 4 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 87 works
  5. 5 Max Planck SocietyGermany 87 works
  6. 6 Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies AlternativesFrance 71 works
  7. 7 University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 67 works
  8. 8 United Kingdom Atomic Energy AuthorityUnited Kingdom 58 works
  9. 9 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 55 works
  10. 10 Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 52 works

Who are the leading researchers in Fusion materials and technologies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Fusion materials and technologies include M. Shoji, Jens K. Nørskov and Xiaogang Wang.

  1. 1 M. Shoji Japan 806k citations
  2. 2 Jens K. Nørskov Denmark 260k citations
  3. 3 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  4. 4 Kenji Watanabe Japan 237k citations
  5. 5 P. Jackson France 230k citations
  6. 6 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  7. 7 Hua Zhang Singapore 196k citations
  8. 8 Stephen M. Gibson France 182k citations
  9. 9 G. N. Taylor France 176k 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 Fusion materials and technologies?

The most cited paper in Fusion materials and technologies is "A Monte Carlo computer program for the transport of energetic ions in amorphous targets" (Jochen P. Biersack, L.G. Haggmark, 1980), with 4,686 citations. Next come "Hall–Petch relation and boundary strengthening" (3,809) and "Theory of Sputtering. I. Sputtering Yield of Amorphous and Polycrystalline Targets" (3,573).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 A Monte Carlo computer program for the transport of energetic ions in amorphous targets Jochen P. Biersack, L.G. Haggmark · Nuclear Instruments and Methods Aug 1980 4,686
2 Hall–Petch relation and boundary strengthening Niels Hansen · Scripta Materialia 4 Aug 2004 3,809
3 Theory of Sputtering. I. Sputtering Yield of Amorphous and Polycrystalline Targets Peter Sigmund · Physical Review 10 Aug 1969 3,573
4 Materials challenges in nuclear energy Steven John Zinkle, Gary S. Was · Acta Materialia 18 Jan 2013 2,657
5 Hydrogen-enhanced localized plasticity—a mechanism for hydrogen-related fracture H.K. Birnbaum, Petros Sofronis · Materials Science and Engineering A Mar 1994 2,279
All 98 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Fusion materials and technologies research done?

The largest centres of Fusion materials and technologies research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Hefei (China), Moscow (Russia) and Chengdu (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Vinon-sur-Verdon, Abingdon and Saint-Paul-lès-Durance.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 358 works
  2. 2 HefeiChina 198 works
  3. 3 MoscowRussia 156 works
  4. 4 ChengduChina 131 works
  5. 5 Xi'anChina 97 works
  6. 6 AbingdonUnited Kingdom 91 works
  7. 7 Oak RidgeUnited States 90 works
  8. 8 ShanghaiChina 81 works
  9. 9 GarchingGermany 63 works
  10. 10 ParisFrance 60 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Vinon-sur-VerdonFR · 37.0 works697×
  2. AbingdonGB · 90.7 works413×
  3. Saint-Paul-lès-DuranceFR · 24.6 works326×
  4. Plainsboro CenterUS · 34.3 works275×
  5. GarchingDE · 62.8 works140×
  6. Idaho FallsUS · 54.2 works103×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Fusion materials and technologies than the world average.

See Fusion materials and technologies on the map

Where is the best place to study Fusion materials and technologies?

Among universities, judged by research, Xi'an Jiaotong University, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and University of Science and Technology Beijing 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%10%20%mean 15.3%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Xi'an Jiaotong Unive…École Polytechnique …University of Scienc…Princeton University
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
1Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 79.823.4%7.7×52 +46.4%
2École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneSwitzerland 71.521.5%13.4×22 +10.3%
3University of Science and Technology BeijingChina 68.016.7%15.7×48 +18.4%
4Princeton UniversityUnited States 64.913.9%25.7×44 -3.8%
5Central South UniversityChina 62.516.0%4.1×31 +30.0%
6Sichuan UniversityChina 60.613.1%5.4×47 +49.6%
7Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 60.518.9%2.4×27 +179.2%
8KTH Royal Institute of TechnologySweden 59.113.3%10.6×16 +32.6%
9Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 58.510.7%13.1×35 -9.4%
10University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 58.45.5%14.4×67 +9.1%

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 Fusion materials and technologies, country by country

Is Fusion materials and technologies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 4% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2017.

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 Fusion materials and technologies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.018% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%Fusion materials and technologies0.017% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Fusion materials and technologies 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%Fusion materials and technologies9.7% 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.

Questions people ask

Who leads research on fusion reactor materials?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Fusion materials and technologies research, followed by Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. By volume, China and the United States publish the most (1.5k and 789 works in 2022-now).

All 1,273 questions in the Question Catalogue

Discussion

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