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Topic · Polymers and Plastics

Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites

Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites is a research topic within Polymers and Plastics. Science Explorer counts 37k 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 use of natural fibers as reinforcement in polymer composites, covering topics such as biodegradability, mechanical properties, chemical treatments, fiber surface modification, and their applications in various industries. The environmental impact and potential automotive applications of these composites are also explored.

  • Natural Fibers
  • Composites
  • Reinforced Polymers
  • Biodegradable
  • Mechanical Properties
  • Chemical Treatments
  • Fiber Surface Modification
  • Biofibres
  • Environmental Impact
  • Automotive Applications
Research works
37k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+29%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
India
31% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites

Which countries lead Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites research?

By volume, India and China publish the most (2.5k and 2k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 India 2.5k works
  2. 2 China 2k works
  3. 3 Indonesia 682 works
  4. 4 Brazil 576 works
  5. 5 Türkiye 546 works
  6. 6 Malaysia 505 works
  7. 7 United States 464 works
  8. 8 France 342 works
  9. 9 Nigeria 258 works
  10. 10 Italy 234 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.

India: 30.5%China: 25.0%Indonesia: 8.4%Brazil: 7.1%6 others listed: 28.9%31%largest
India2,479 · 30.5%China2,033 · 25.0%Indonesia682 · 8.4%Brazil576 · 7.1%6 others listed2,349 · 28.9%

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

Which institutions lead Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites research?

By volume in 2022-now, Saveetha University publishes the most Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites research, followed by Nanjing Forestry University and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Saveetha UniversityIndia 152 works
  2. 2 Nanjing Forestry UniversityChina 129 works
  3. 3 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 109 works
  4. 4 Vellore Institute of Technology UniversityIndia 72 works
  5. 5 Universiti Putra MalaysiaMalaysia 65 works
  6. 6 King Mongkut's University of Technology North BangkokThailand 61 works
  7. 7 Manipal Academy of Higher EducationIndia 54 works
  8. 8 Indian Institute of Technology RoorkeeIndia 50 works
  9. 9 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 47 works
  10. 10 Universiti Teknologi MARAMalaysia 46 works

Who are the leading researchers in Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites include Kostya S. Novoselov, Kai You Wang and Lei Jiang.

  1. 1 Kostya S. Novoselov United Kingdom 331k citations
  2. 2 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  3. 3 Lei Jiang China 214k citations
  4. 4 Hua Zhang Singapore 196k citations
  5. 5 Seeram Ramakrishna Singapore 186k citations
  6. 6 David Julian McClements United States 185k citations
  7. 7 Hui–Ming Cheng China 183k citations
  8. 8 Huan Liu Australia 148k citations
  9. 9 Zhanhu Guo United States 148k 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 Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites?

The most cited paper in Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites is "Composites reinforced with cellulose based fibres" (Andrzej Korneliusz Bledzki, 1999), with 4,631 citations. Next come "Biocomposites reinforced with natural fibers: 2000–2010" (4,216) and "A review of recent developments in natural fibre composites and their mechanical performance" (3,460).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Composites reinforced with cellulose based fibres Andrzej Korneliusz Bledzki · Progress in Polymer Science May 1999 4,631
2 Biocomposites reinforced with natural fibers: 2000–2010 Omar Faruk, Andrzej Korneliusz Bledzki, Hans‐Peter Fink et al. · Progress in Polymer Science 2 May 2012 4,216
3 A review of recent developments in natural fibre composites and their mechanical performance Kim Louise Pickering, M.G. Aruan Efendy, T.M. Le · Composites Part A Applied Science and Manufacturing Open access 11 Sep 2015 3,460
4 Chemical Treatments of Natural Fiber for Use in Natural Fiber-Reinforced Composites: A Review Xue Li, Lope G. Tabil, Satyanarayan Panigrahi · Journal of Polymers and the Environment 3 Jan 2007 2,905
5 Natural fibres: can they replace glass in fibre reinforced plastics? Paul M. Wambua, Jan Ivens, Ignace Verpoest · Composites Science and Technology Open access 19 May 2003 2,649
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites research done?

The largest centres of Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites research in 2022-now are Chennai (India), Beijing (China), Nanjing (China) and Dhaka (Bangladesh).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 ChennaiIndia 417 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 330 works
  3. 3 NanjingChina 213 works
  4. 4 DhakaBangladesh 156 works
  5. 5 CoimbatoreIndia 143 works
  6. 6 BangkokThailand 127 works
  7. 7 ShanghaiChina 118 works
  8. 8 BengaluruIndia 113 works
  9. 9 Rio de JaneiroBrazil 110 works
  10. 10 New DelhiIndia 90 works
See Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites on the map

Where is the best place to study Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites?

Among universities, judged by research, Saveetha University, King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok and Najran 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%25%50%mean 24.16%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Najran UniversityKing Mongkut's Unive…Saveetha UniversityNanjing Forestry Uni…
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
1Saveetha UniversityIndia 67.320.8%14.6×152 +472.1%
2King Mongkut's University of Technology North BangkokThailand 65.732.6%43.6×61 +57.0%
3Najran UniversitySaudi Arabia 65.257.9%9.7×10 -
4Nanjing Forestry UniversityChina 59.914.9%26.1×128 +132.2%
5Bangladesh University of TextilesBangladesh 55.625.6%115.0×31 +225.9%
6King Saud UniversitySaudi Arabia 53.820.7%2.8×30 +105.4%
7Manipal Academy of Higher EducationIndia 52.420.0%6.9×54 +77.4%
8Vellore Institute of Technology UniversityIndia 51.213.1%6.7×72 +43.0%
9United Arab Emirates UniversityUnited Arab Emirates 51.225.3%6.7×17 +171.7%
10Indian Institute of Technology RoorkeeIndia 50.110.7%10.2×50 +95.2%

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 Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites, country by country

Is Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 29% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites.

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 Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.053% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites0.051% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites 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%Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites9.9% 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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