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Topic · Polymers and Plastics

Polymer Foaming and Composites

Polymer Foaming and Composites is a research topic within Polymers and Plastics. Science Explorer counts 12k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the use of supercritical carbon dioxide for polymer foaming, including topics such as nanocomposite foams, microcellular foams, foam processing, crystallization behavior, thermal insulation materials, biodegradable polymers, rheological properties, and cellular structure.

  • Supercritical Carbon Dioxide
  • Polymer Foaming
  • Nanocomposite Foams
  • Microcellular Foams
  • Foam Processing
  • Crystallization Behavior
  • Thermal Insulation Materials
  • Biodegradable Polymers
  • Rheological Properties
  • Cellular Structure
Research works
12k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+16%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
47% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Polymer Foaming and Composites

Which countries lead Polymer Foaming and Composites research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (788 and 193 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 788 works
  2. 2 United States 193 works
  3. 3 India 135 works
  4. 4 Germany 120 works
  5. 5 France 102 works
  6. 6 Japan 75 works
  7. 7 Italy 70 works
  8. 8 Türkiye 68 works
  9. 9 Canada 66 works
  10. 10 Spain 60 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: 47.0%United States: 11.5%India: 8.1%Germany: 7.2%6 others listed: 26.3%47%largest
China788 · 47.0%United States193 · 11.5%India135 · 8.1%Germany120 · 7.2%6 others listed441 · 26.3%

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

Which institutions lead Polymer Foaming and Composites research?

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

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 52 works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 37 works
  3. 3 Sichuan UniversityChina 32 works
  4. 4 East China University of Science and TechnologyChina 21 works
  5. 5 Zhengzhou UniversityChina 19 works
  6. 6 Shandong UniversityChina 18 works
  7. 7 State Key Laboratory of Chemical EngineeringChina 16 works
  8. 8 Qingdao University of Science and TechnologyChina 15 works
  9. 9 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 14 works
  10. 10 University of TorontoCanada 13 works

Who are the leading researchers in Polymer Foaming and Composites?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Polymer Foaming and Composites include Seeram Ramakrishna, Qiang Zhang and Han Zhang.

  1. 1 Seeram Ramakrishna Singapore 186k citations
  2. 2 Qiang Zhang China 184k citations
  3. 3 Han Zhang China 161k citations
  4. 4 Zhanhu Guo United States 148k citations
  5. 5 David J. Mooney United States 135k 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 Foaming and Composites?

The most cited paper in Polymer Foaming and Composites is "Manufacture, characterisation and application of cellular metals and metal foams" (John Banhart, 2001), with 3,783 citations. Next come "An Overview of Polylactides as Packaging Materials" (3,422) and "The mechanics of three-dimensional cellular materials" (1,877).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Manufacture, characterisation and application of cellular metals and metal foams John Banhart · Progress in Materials Science 2001 3,783
2 An Overview of Polylactides as Packaging Materials Rafael A. Auras, Bruce Harte, Susan E. M. Selke · Macromolecular Bioscience 24 Aug 2004 3,422
3 The mechanics of three-dimensional cellular materials Lachlan J. Gibson, Michael Farries Ashby · Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A Mathematical and Physical Sciences 8 Jul 1982 1,877
4 The entanglement concept in polymer rheology William W. Graessley · Advances in polymer science Book chapter 25 Jan 2006 1,337
5 Freeze‐Casting of Porous Ceramics: A Review of Current Achievements and Issues S. Deville · Advanced Engineering Materials Open access Mar 2008 1,197
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Polymer Foaming and Composites research done?

The largest centres of Polymer Foaming and Composites research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Chengdu (China) and Xi'an (China).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 122 works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 51 works
  3. 3 ChengduChina 45 works
  4. 4 Xi'anChina 38 works
  5. 5 HangzhouChina 37 works
  6. 6 GuangzhouChina 35 works
  7. 7 WuhanChina 33 works
  8. 8 TehranIran 30 works
  9. 9 QingdaoChina 27 works
  10. 10 JinanChina 27 works
See Polymer Foaming and Composites on the map

Where is the best place to study Polymer Foaming and Composites?

Among universities, judged by research, Shandong University, East China University of Science and Technology 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%10%20%30%mean 19.18%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Shandong UniversityEast China Universit…University of TorontoSichuan 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
1Shandong UniversityChina 77.527.8%6.8×18 +22.2%
2East China University of Science and TechnologyChina 62.420.5%20.9×21 +91.7%
3Sichuan UniversityChina 59.316.0%6.8×32 -1.3%
4University of TorontoCanada 54.919.4%3.0×13 -33.3%
5Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 51.321.6%3.4×12 +140.4%
6Zhengzhou UniversityChina 49.714.9%7.5×19 +43.8%
7Beijing Technology and Business UniversityChina 47.118.8%28.1×12 +57.3%
8Ningbo UniversityChina 46.021.7%6.8×9 +157.8%
9University of Naples Federico IIItaly 39.27.9%7.3×11 +39.8%
10Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina 38.823.2%4.1×10 +5.5%

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 Foaming and Composites, country by country

Is Polymer Foaming and Composites research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 16% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Polymer Foaming and 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 Polymer Foaming and Composites as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0078% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Polymer Foaming and Composites0.010% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Polymer Foaming and 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%Polymer Foaming and Composites10.1% 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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