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Topic · Polymers and Plastics

Polymer composites and self-healing

Polymer composites and self-healing is a research topic within Polymers and Plastics. Science Explorer counts 30k 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 development and applications of self-healing polymers, including shape memory polymers, composites, and thermoplastic elastomers. The research explores the use of renewable resources, supramolecular interactions, and dynamic covalent bonds to create biodegradable and malleable materials with enhanced properties. Topics also include vitrimers, microencapsulation for healing agents, and the thermal and mechanical behavior of these innovative polymer systems.

  • Self-Healing
  • Polymer Composites
  • Shape Memory Polymers
  • Renewable Resources
  • Supramolecular Polymers
  • Thermoplastic Elastomers
  • Dynamic Covalent Bonds
  • Biodegradable Polymers
  • Vitrimers
  • Microencapsulation
Research works
30k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.9k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+47%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
61% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Polymer composites and self-healing

Which countries lead Polymer composites and self-healing research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (4.4k and 782 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 4.4k works
  2. 2 United States 782 works
  3. 3 India 572 works
  4. 4 France 255 works
  5. 5 South Korea 252 works
  6. 6 Japan 240 works
  7. 7 Iran 214 works
  8. 8 Germany 203 works
  9. 9 Türkiye 176 works
  10. 10 Italy 174 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: 60.8%United States: 10.7%India: 7.8%France: 3.5%6 others listed: 17.2%61%largest
China4,439 · 60.8%United States782 · 10.7%India572 · 7.8%France255 · 3.5%6 others listed1,259 · 17.2%

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

Which institutions lead Polymer composites and self-healing research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Polymer composites and self-healing research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Sichuan University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 196 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 138 works
  3. 3 Sichuan UniversityChina 136 works
  4. 4 Beijing University of Chemical TechnologyChina 110 works
  5. 5 South China University of TechnologyChina 105 works
  6. 6 Qingdao University of Science and TechnologyChina 95 works
  7. 7 Nanjing Forestry UniversityChina 76 works
  8. 8 Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 72 works
  9. 9 Jiangnan UniversityChina 63 works
  10. 10 Donghua UniversityChina 59 works

Who are the leading researchers in Polymer composites and self-healing?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Polymer composites and self-healing include Zhong Lin Wang, Róbert Langer and Wei Huang.

  1. 1 Zhong Lin Wang United States 491k citations
  2. 2 Róbert Langer United States 303k citations
  3. 3 Wei Huang China 267k citations
  4. 4 Ben Zhong Tang China 261k citations
  5. 5 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  6. 6 Lei Jiang China 214k citations
  7. 7 Hua Zhang Singapore 196k citations
  8. 8 Zhenan Bao United States 187k citations
  9. 9 Seeram Ramakrishna Singapore 186k citations
  10. 10 Richard Henry Friend United Kingdom 185k 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 Polymer composites and self-healing?

The most cited paper in Polymer composites and self-healing is "Polymer/layered silicate nanocomposites: a review from preparation to processing" (Suprakas Sinha Ray, Masami Okamoto, 2003), with 6,798 citations. Next come "Autonomic healing of polymer composites" (4,540) and "A review of shape memory alloy research, applications and opportunities" (4,094).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Polymer/layered silicate nanocomposites: a review from preparation to processing Suprakas Sinha Ray, Masami Okamoto · Progress in Polymer Science 17 Oct 2003 6,798
2 Autonomic healing of polymer composites Scott R. White, Nancy R. Sottos, Philippe H. Geubelle et al. · Nature 15 Feb 2001 4,540
3 A review of shape memory alloy research, applications and opportunities Jaronie Mohd Jani, Martin Leary, Aleksandar Subic et al. · Materials & Design (1980-2015) 17 Dec 2013 4,094
4 Foam Structures with a Negative Poisson's Ratio Roderic S. Lakes · Science 27 Feb 1987 3,871
5 Functional Supramolecular Polymers Takuzo Aida, Egbert W. Meijer, Samuel Isaac Stupp · Science Open access 16 Feb 2012 3,705
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Polymer composites and self-healing research done?

The largest centres of Polymer composites and self-healing research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Nanjing (China) and Guangzhou (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Pittsburg and Villeurbanne.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 657 works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 288 works
  3. 3 NanjingChina 250 works
  4. 4 GuangzhouChina 233 works
  5. 5 Xi'anChina 232 works
  6. 6 ChengduChina 214 works
  7. 7 QingdaoChina 188 works
  8. 8 HangzhouChina 162 works
  9. 9 HarbinChina 161 works
  10. 10 WuhanChina 140 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. PittsburgUS · 22.7 works108×
  2. VilleurbanneFR · 57.7 works12×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Polymer composites and self-healing than the world average.

See Polymer composites and self-healing on the map

Where is the best place to study Polymer composites and self-healing?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Southern Queensland, Sichuan University and Beijing Forestry 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 20.15%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Southe…Beijing Forestry Uni…Sichuan UniversitySouth China Universi…
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 68.735.7%9.8×11 +75.4%
2Sichuan UniversityChina 68.615.6%7.4×136 +24.0%
3Beijing Forestry UniversityChina 65.824.2%13.3×31 +97.6%
4South China University of TechnologyChina 65.514.4%11.8×105 +21.8%
5Beijing University of Chemical TechnologyChina 64.813.8%31.4×110 +61.2%
6University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 63.817.3%5.8×56 +59.4%
7Northwestern UniversityUnited States 62.927.8%2.7×18 +77.4%
8Jilin UniversityChina 62.623.3%4.6×43 +20.1%
9Nanjing Forestry UniversityChina 62.514.4%20.6×76 +72.0%
10Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 61.115.0%5.4×72 +19.1%

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 Polymer composites and self-healing, country by country

Is Polymer composites and self-healing research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 47% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Polymer composites and self-healing.

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 Polymer composites and self-healing as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.038% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Polymer composites and self-healing0.041% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Polymer composites and self-healing 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%Polymer composites and self-healing9.7% 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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