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Topic · Mechanics of Materials

Metal and Thin Film Mechanics

Metal and Thin Film Mechanics is a research topic within Mechanics of Materials. Science Explorer counts 93k 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 mechanical properties, fabrication techniques, and performance evaluation of thin film coatings, particularly in the context of nanoindentation, sputtering, and tribological behavior. It covers topics such as hardness, elastic modulus, nanocomposites, and the use of advanced characterization techniques like X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

  • Nanoindentation
  • Thin Films
  • Coatings
  • Mechanical Properties
  • Sputtering
  • Hardness
  • Elastic Modulus
  • Nanocomposites
  • Tribological Behavior
  • X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy
Research works
93k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
9.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+5%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
53% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Metal and Thin Film Mechanics

Which countries lead Metal and Thin Film Mechanics research?

By volume, China and India publish the most (5.4k and 980 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 5.4k works
  2. 2 India 980 works
  3. 3 United States 928 works
  4. 4 Russia 837 works
  5. 5 Japan 582 works
  6. 6 Germany 485 works
  7. 7 South Korea 312 works
  8. 8 France 284 works
  9. 9 Türkiye 263 works
  10. 10 Poland 247 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: 52.5%India: 9.5%United States: 9.0%Russia: 8.1%6 others listed: 21.0%53%largest
China5,442 · 52.5%India980 · 9.5%United States928 · 9.0%Russia837 · 8.1%6 others listed2,172 · 21.0%

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

Which institutions lead Metal and Thin Film Mechanics research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Metal and Thin Film Mechanics research, followed by Russian Academy of Sciences and Harbin Institute of Technology.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 382 works
  2. 2 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 313 works
  3. 3 Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 132 works
  4. 4 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 131 works
  5. 5 Central South UniversityChina 116 works
  6. 6 Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 101 works
  7. 7 University of Science and Technology BeijingChina 99 works
  8. 8 Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina 99 works
  9. 9 Southwest Jiaotong UniversityChina 79 works
  10. 10 Northeastern UniversityChina 73 works

Who are the leading researchers in Metal and Thin Film Mechanics?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Metal and Thin Film Mechanics include M. Shoji, Zhong Lin Wang and Georg Kresse.

  1. 1 M. Shoji Japan 806k citations
  2. 2 Zhong Lin Wang United States 491k citations
  3. 3 Georg Kresse Austria 431k citations
  4. 4 Yury G. Gogotsi United States 313k citations
  5. 5 Róbert Langer United States 303k citations
  6. 6 George M. Whitesides United States 267k citations
  7. 7 Wei Huang China 267k citations
  8. 8 Yi Ping Cui United States 261k citations
  9. 9 Jens K. Nørskov Denmark 260k citations
  10. 10 Xiaogang Wang China 260k 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 Metal and Thin Film Mechanics?

The most cited paper in Metal and Thin Film Mechanics is "An improved technique for determining hardness and elastic modulus using load and displacement sensing indentation experiments" (W. C. Oliver, George M. Pharr, 1992), with 27,030 citations. Next come "Measurement of hardness and elastic modulus by instrumented indentation: Advances in understanding and refinements to methodology" (8,017) and "Bulk nanostructured materials from severe plastic deformation" (6,495).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 An improved technique for determining hardness and elastic modulus using load and displacement sensing indentation experiments W. C. Oliver, George M. Pharr · Journal of materials research/Pratt's guide to venture capital sources Jun 1992 27,030
2 Measurement of hardness and elastic modulus by instrumented indentation: Advances in understanding and refinements to methodology W. C. Oliver, George M. Pharr · Journal of materials research/Pratt's guide to venture capital sources 2004 8,017
3 Bulk nanostructured materials from severe plastic deformation Ruslan Zufarovich Valiev, Rinat Kadykhanovich Islamgaliev, Igor V. Alexandrov · Progress in Materials Science Mar 2000 6,495
4 Diamond-like amorphous carbon John D. Robertson · Materials Science and Engineering R Reports 24 May 2002 6,217
5 A Critical Evaluation of Indentation Techniques for Measuring Fracture Toughness: I, Direct Crack Measurements G. R. Anstis, Prapaipan Chantikul, Brian R. Lawn et al. · Journal of the American Ceramic Society Sep 1981 5,576
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Metal and Thin Film Mechanics research done?

The largest centres of Metal and Thin Film Mechanics research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Xi'an (China), Moscow (Russia) and Shanghai (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Tomsk, Ust-Kamenogorsk and Leoben.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 855 works
  2. 2 Xi'anChina 405 works
  3. 3 MoscowRussia 274 works
  4. 4 ShanghaiChina 267 works
  5. 5 ChengduChina 228 works
  6. 6 HarbinChina 213 works
  7. 7 NanjingChina 203 works
  8. 8 WuhanChina 202 works
  9. 9 ChangshaChina 175 works
  10. 10 GuangzhouChina 165 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. TomskRU · 37.5 works68×
  2. Ust-KamenogorskKZ · 23.1 works55×
  3. LeobenAT · 31.3 works23×
  4. TomskRU · 123.7 works19×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Metal and Thin Film Mechanics than the world average.

See Metal and Thin Film Mechanics on the map

Where is the best place to study Metal and Thin Film Mechanics?

Among universities, judged by research, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Southwest Jiaotong University and Northeastern University score highest, combining citation 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%30%mean 18.6%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Northwestern Polytec…Southwest Jiaotong U…Northeastern Univers…Central South Univer…
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.

Citation 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
1Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina 82.526.8%7.5×99 +39.4%
2Southwest Jiaotong UniversityChina 72.018.2%8.9×79 +66.1%
3Northeastern UniversityChina 69.917.9%7.1×73 +48.9%
4Central South UniversityChina 69.013.4%5.2×116 +51.9%
5University of Science and Technology BeijingChina 69.016.6%11.0×99 +20.1%
6Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 68.913.2%7.0×132 +42.3%
7Chongqing UniversityChina 67.317.1%5.2×65 +46.5%
8University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 66.718.9%2.9×54 +9.6%
9Southern University of Science and TechnologyChina 64.423.3%3.0×18 +49.7%
10Anhui University of TechnologyChina 64.020.6%14.0×30 +105.2%

Universities only. The score blends citation 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 Metal and Thin Film Mechanics, country by country

Is Metal and Thin Film Mechanics research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 5% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Metal and Thin Film Mechanics.

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 Metal and Thin Film Mechanics as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.062% in 2024.

still counting0.10%0.20%Metal and Thin Film Mechanics0.056% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Metal and Thin Film Mechanics 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%Metal and Thin Film Mechanics9.8% 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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