PATENT CITATION NETWORK ANALYSIS ON IDENTIFYING CRITICAL TECHNIQUES - A CASE OF THERMAL STABLE POLYMER NANOCOMPOSITE

摘要

Nanocomposite material with new functions or properties better than traditional composite materials opens a door to transform the way that material in the world is applied. Opportunities are thus forthcoming to accelerate achieving green technology. This study aims to obtain global overview on thermal stable polymer nanocomposite development along time horizon as well as to disclose its related critical technologies, thermal stable polymer nanocomposite patents are retrieved from USPTO patent database and patent citation network is generated by combing both patent citation and social network analysis. A node in the patent citation network is a patent. A citation in the network connects one patent to anther and can be understood as a process that an older invention is used as the background information of a newer invention. In that sense, patent citation in part reflects the model of human knowledge accumulation and the networking structure of patent citation network offers a way to approach quantitative technology management.