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Thermal spraying processes allows high cooling rates and can favor the formation of amorphous microstructures. Amorphous metallic coatings can result in superior mechanical and functional properties. To follow new technological development and innovation paths, indicators based on patent data can be assembled to support technological forecasting assessments and decision making. This study mapped the technological development on amorphous alloys processed by thermal spraying using patent indicators from documents indexed in the Derwent Innovations Index database between the years 1997 and 2014. We evaluate the patent activity, the role of countries, the main technological subdomains and markets of interest, as well as the main metallic alloys explored as coating. We conclude that new technological developments should be expected in near future and these advances both in amorphous alloys and thermal spraying shall be constantly monitored in the coming years.

Nanocellulose is remarkable cellulose-based nanomaterials that have a potential for innovation and sustainable appeal. Their advances can be assessed using patent indicators and text mining techniques. The aim of this study was at analyzing the advances in nanocellulose based on indicators compiled from patents filed at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) from 2000 to 2012. Assignees, technological subjects, highly cited patents, applications and types of nanocellulose were obtained by mining structured and unstructured data. The results highlighted the different interests in the USA market, mainly after 2007. Mined terms from titles and abstracts could add further information to the analysis. However, although the method applied was useful, it was not sufficient to identify all applications and types of nanocellulose involved in the sample analyzed, therefore it is recommended that other document parts be included in future analyses.

The recent rise of nanotechnology and nanomaterial research is marked by the huge amount of publications indexed in electronic databases, which can be evaluated using bibliometric indicators in order to help researchers find hidden trends, gain novel insights and support new scientific developments. Although in-depth analyses require specialized software and advanced methodologies, some initial indicators can be developed using the analytical tools available in databases and provide useful information about a specific subject or research field. This paper aims to explore the Web of Science's analytical tool for analyzing the scientific output regarding carbon-based nanomaterials. The results provide several key findings, including research trends and publications in carbon nanotubes, fullerene and graphene, as well as revealing the main global players and journals from 2001 to 2010. Despite the usefulness of the analytical tool, a number of limitations hindered the development of important indicators, such as those involving citation and collaboration.