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Journal of Polymer & Composites Research Article

Polymer and Composite Materials for Climate-Responsive Building Envelopes: PRISMA-Guided Evidence Mapping, Bibliometric Analysis, and a Structure-Property-Performance Framework

  1. Kamlesh Kumhar Research Scholar, Department of Architecture and Planning, National Institute of Technology Patna, Patna, India
  2. Ravish Kumar ✉ Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture and Planning, National Institute of Technology Patna, Patna, India

Abstract

The choice of matrix and reinforcement, filler adjustment, control of interface, porosity, processing methods, and multifunctional design is becoming more and more significant in constructing polymer/composite building envelopes. The resulting evidence, however, is scattered across the fields of polymer/composite science and building-performance research. This review thus charts the landscape keeping the material-science heart intact: composite design, processing/manufacturing, characterization, structure-property relationships, durability, and application performance. A PRISMA-guided title/abstract evidence map was merged with bibliometric science mapping of a Web of Science corpus of 677 records of which 499 were kept for qualitative indicator synthesis. The four coherent domains identified using VOSviewer 1.6.20 term mapping were: sustainable building materials/biocomposites, carbon-nanotube/polymer thermal nanocomposites, electrically conductive polymer nanocomposites, and phase-change composite systems. The synthesis resulted in 24 recurring variables across the thermophysical, hygrothermal, mechanical, safety, durability, environmental, processing/scale-up and building-performance dimensions. The material-to-application filter was defined with density and porosity as Level I material descriptors and other descriptors were summarized into 12 main indicators describing envelope, building, life cycle and climate applications. The most common source variables were thermal conductivity/insulation (69.7%), durability/weathering (20.4%), water/moisture uptake (19.4%) and manufacturability/scale-up (19.0%), with building energy (7.8%), indoor thermal comfort (3.6%), solar-optical response (1.8%), UV resistance (1.4%) and explicit hot-dry application (1.0%) being significantly less represented. The framework that emerges links polymer/composite formulation and characterization to end-use performance without equating lab properties with building outcomes. The review defines processing repeatability, multi-property evaluation, fire/UV protection, life cycle examination, and material validation in construction as priorities for buildings adapted to climate conditions. Due to the lack of original WoS inquiry, data retrieval date and the filters used, this evidence map cannot be considered a genuinely reproducible systematic review.

Keywords

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