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General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The new materials industry is a strategic and basic industry, and it is also a key area of high-tech competition. We must catch up and catch up." The development and application of new materials can promote technological progress and industrial upgrading, and even promote human society to a new level. For example, semiconductor materials have brought us into the information society.
Looking at the world, materials research has continuously made new breakthroughs. A number of new materials such as advanced steel materials, advanced non-ferrous metal materials, and advanced petrochemical materials have emerged, injecting strong momentum into the manufacturing industry and economic and social development. Carbon fiber is a very widely used new material.
A bicycle frame made of carbon fiber weighs only about 600 grams, equivalent to 3 apples; a 1-meter-long T1000-grade carbon fiber, a bundle as thick as a finger, weighs only 0.5 grams and can pull two civil airliners; carbon fiber products can be safe and sound at a high temperature of 3000 degrees Celsius and can be used in various corrosive environments such as acid, alkali, oil, and salt... Carbon fiber has many excellent properties such as high strength, high modulus, high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, and light weight. It has broad application prospects in modern manufacturing and is known as "industrial black gold".
As thin as a hair, as light as a feather, and stronger than steel
Carbon fiber is an inorganic fiber with a carbon content of more than 95%. It is made of different raw materials through polymerization, spinning, oxidation, and high-temperature carbonization. According to the type of raw materials, carbon fiber mainly includes three types: polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber, viscose-based carbon fiber, and asphalt-based carbon fiber. Among them, polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber, which uses petrochemical product acrylonitrile as the main raw material, accounts for more than 90% of the world's total carbon fiber production and is the main source of high-performance carbon fiber.
Carbon fiber has excellent properties such as being as thin as a hair, as light as a feather, and stronger than steel. The diameter of carbon fiber is usually 5-7 microns, which is only about 1/10 of the thickness of a hair. The density is relatively low, generally 1/5 of steel, 2/5 of titanium, and 3/5 of aluminum. Although it is "light and thin", the strength of carbon fiber is very high, generally 35 times that of steel. In practical applications, a certain number of carbon fiber "filaments" are usually wound up like braided ropes. A bundle of standard 12K (i.e. 12,000 strands) of carbon fiber is less than the thickness of a pencil, but can withstand a weight of about 130 kilograms. At the same time, carbon fiber can remain safe and sound at a high temperature of 3000 degrees Celsius, and its size remains basically unchanged between minus 100 degrees Celsius and 100 degrees Celsius, and it can be used in highly corrosive environments. It can be said that "real gold is not afraid of fire."
It is not easy to obtain such characteristics. The preparation process of carbon fiber is long and the process is complex, and the difficulty is comparable to chips and micro-nano lithography. The carbon fiber preparation process includes hundreds of sub-processes, involving polymer chemistry, polymer physics, materials science, polymer processing and spinning engineering, industrial automation control, high temperature engineering, etc. There are thousands of process control points and more than 10,000 process parameters. The change of each parameter will affect the final performance of the carbon fiber. The world's most advanced chip lithography technology has reached a few nanometers. Similarly, high-performance carbon fiber also requires that the internal defects of carbon fiber be controlled within 10 nanometers. Carbon fiber also needs to undergo high-temperature carbonization from ordinary room temperature to 1700 degrees Celsius or even 2500 degrees Celsius, and the temperature accuracy must be controlled within 5-10 degrees Celsius. The difficulty can be seen. It can be said that each bundle of carbon fiber material is obtained through thousands of tempers. Because of the high technical requirements and the difficulty of manufacturing, the price of carbon fiber is relatively expensive. The price of aerospace-grade carbon fiber ranges from thousands to tens of thousands of yuan per kilogram, which is dozens of times the price of steel and aluminum alloy. However, carbon fiber has become an indispensable key material for national economy and national defense construction due to its excellent performance.
Supporting materials for modern manufacturing industry
Carbon fiber has both the high strength of carbon materials and the softness and processability of fiber textile materials. A bunch of high-strength carbon fiber as thick as a finger can pull an airplane. Carbon fiber can also be woven into fiber cloth, woven and cut into specific shapes as needed, and cured with resin to become a material with higher strength than high-strength steel. Because of its many excellent properties, carbon fiber is widely used and has become an important supporting material in high-end equipment, major infrastructure projects, new energy and other fields such as aerospace, electricity, and transportation.
In the field of aerospace, the amount of carbon fiber used is often used as an important indicator to measure the level of aerospace equipment. Carbon fiber composite materials can be used in the manufacture of aircraft, satellites, rockets, etc., and can also help products reduce noise and save fuel. For example, civil airliners use carbon fiber composite blades, which are more than 500 kilograms lighter than traditional titanium alloys, and the overall weight of the fuselage is reduced by 1 ton. The fuel consumption of the aircraft is greatly reduced, and the range is effectively improved. Adding carbon fiber to propellants and propellants can also improve the mechanical properties of the propellant, increase the burning rate of the propellant, and improve the combustion performance of the propellant.
In the automotive and wind power fields that are closely related to people's livelihood, carbon fiber has become a tool to improve performance. Carbon fiber composite materials have low density, light weight, high rigidity and strong suction. The energy absorption capacity of the material during collision is 6 to 7 times higher than that of steel structure. Using carbon fiber composite materials in automobile manufacturing can greatly improve the acceleration performance, braking performance, shock absorption performance and safety performance of the car. For example, in high-end and precise Formula One racing cars, all models use carbon fiber reinforced polymer-based composite materials to manufacture frames, bodies, chassis, etc., which reduces the weight of the body by 40% to 60%, which is equivalent to 1/3 to 1/6 of the weight of steel structure, and maintains sufficient strength and rigidity. Based on carbon fiber materials, some automobile manufacturers have manufactured super sports cars with a body weight of less than 300 kilograms.
In terms of wind power equipment, the main beam of the blade is the place where carbon fiber composite materials are used. These main beams are often more than 70 meters or even 120 meters long. Using large-tow carbon fiber for manufacturing can significantly reduce the weight of the blade, increase the rigidity of the blade, greatly improve the cost performance of the product, and improve the power generation efficiency and stability of the entire unit.
In the manufacturing of sports equipment, carbon fiber can also show its skills. At present, the use of carbon fiber in the manufacture of high-end sports equipment can help athletes break through their limits and create new records. For example, in the manufacture of tennis rackets, bicycles, golf clubs, skis, and kayaks, giving full play to the advantages of carbon fiber materials in terms of light weight can reduce the "burden" of athletes. Compared with aluminum alloy rackets, athletes can increase the maximum ball speed by 20% to 250 kilometers per hour when using tennis rackets made of carbon fiber. In the future, with the improvement of technology and the reduction of costs, more sports equipment will use carbon fiber.
Combining industry, academia, and research to strengthen the carbon fiber industry
Since the beginning of the new century, my country has organized superior scientific and technological forces to carry out scientific and technological research on carbon fiber. After more than 20 years of unremitting efforts, breakthrough progress has been made in the engineering, industrialization, and localization of carbon fiber. In August this year, the 1,000-ton industrial production technology of domestic T1000-grade polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber passed the technical appraisal of the expert committee. Immediately afterwards, the country's first 10,000-ton high-performance carbon fiber production base was built in Xining. China's carbon fiber industry has grown from nothing to something, from something to big, and from big to excellent. The technical level and industrialization development momentum are good, and research and application have entered a new stage of rapid development.
In this production field where industry, academia and research are highly integrated, providing the market with a series of products with rich varieties, stable quality, sufficient output and reasonable prices is the key to the iterative upgrading of carbon fiber technology. According to international standards, carbon fiber products are divided into different models according to strength and modulus, such as high-strength, high-modulus, high-strength medium-modulus, high-strength high-modulus and other series. Among them, the high-strength series is divided into T300, T800, T1000 and other models according to tensile strength. Carbon fiber products with different application fields are like scientific research topics that need to be solved one by one. Even the lowest grade T300 carbon fiber has several times the strength of the general automobile anti-collision beam, and the difficulty of research and development can be imagined. With the joint support of software and hardware technologies such as molecular design, polymerization engineering, solidification molding, and equipment fine control, my country has successively broken through the key technologies of T300, T700, and T800-level polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fibers during the "10th Five-Year Plan" to the "13th Five-Year Plan" and achieved large-scale production. In 2022, my country's carbon fiber production will account for 1/3 of the world.
With the increase in production, the production of ultra-high-performance carbon fiber is also in urgent need of us to "reach the top" and achieve large-scale and stable production. T1000-grade carbon fiber is one of the highest-strength carbon fiber series in the world. Domestic carbon fiber manufacturers and Shenzhen University have worked together to tackle this technology. According to the test of domestic authoritative institutions, the performance of this type of carbon fiber products produced on an annual production line of 1,700 tons has reached the level of international products of the same level, and the product quality qualification rate is higher than 95%. With the steady progress of production, T1000-grade carbon fiber materials will help meet the growing and urgent needs of my country's high-end industrial field.
Driven by both policies and markets, my country's carbon fiber technology has been continuously improved, and the carbon fiber industry chain has been gradually improved. From catching up and catching up to making persistent efforts and climbing to the top, on the road to achieving high-level scientific and technological self-reliance, carbon fiber technology will contribute a more solid and powerful "Chinese strength".
Looking at the world, materials research has continuously made new breakthroughs. A number of new materials such as advanced steel materials, advanced non-ferrous metal materials, and advanced petrochemical materials have emerged, injecting strong momentum into the manufacturing industry and economic and social development. Carbon fiber is a very widely used new material.
A bicycle frame made of carbon fiber weighs only about 600 grams, equivalent to 3 apples; a 1-meter-long T1000-grade carbon fiber, a bundle as thick as a finger, weighs only 0.5 grams and can pull two civil airliners; carbon fiber products can be safe and sound at a high temperature of 3000 degrees Celsius and can be used in various corrosive environments such as acid, alkali, oil, and salt... Carbon fiber has many excellent properties such as high strength, high modulus, high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, and light weight. It has broad application prospects in modern manufacturing and is known as "industrial black gold".
As thin as a hair, as light as a feather, and stronger than steel
Carbon fiber is an inorganic fiber with a carbon content of more than 95%. It is made of different raw materials through polymerization, spinning, oxidation, and high-temperature carbonization. According to the type of raw materials, carbon fiber mainly includes three types: polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber, viscose-based carbon fiber, and asphalt-based carbon fiber. Among them, polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber, which uses petrochemical product acrylonitrile as the main raw material, accounts for more than 90% of the world's total carbon fiber production and is the main source of high-performance carbon fiber.
Carbon fiber has excellent properties such as being as thin as a hair, as light as a feather, and stronger than steel. The diameter of carbon fiber is usually 5-7 microns, which is only about 1/10 of the thickness of a hair. The density is relatively low, generally 1/5 of steel, 2/5 of titanium, and 3/5 of aluminum. Although it is "light and thin", the strength of carbon fiber is very high, generally 35 times that of steel. In practical applications, a certain number of carbon fiber "filaments" are usually wound up like braided ropes. A bundle of standard 12K (i.e. 12,000 strands) of carbon fiber is less than the thickness of a pencil, but can withstand a weight of about 130 kilograms. At the same time, carbon fiber can remain safe and sound at a high temperature of 3000 degrees Celsius, and its size remains basically unchanged between minus 100 degrees Celsius and 100 degrees Celsius, and it can be used in highly corrosive environments. It can be said that "real gold is not afraid of fire."
It is not easy to obtain such characteristics. The preparation process of carbon fiber is long and the process is complex, and the difficulty is comparable to chips and micro-nano lithography. The carbon fiber preparation process includes hundreds of sub-processes, involving polymer chemistry, polymer physics, materials science, polymer processing and spinning engineering, industrial automation control, high temperature engineering, etc. There are thousands of process control points and more than 10,000 process parameters. The change of each parameter will affect the final performance of the carbon fiber. The world's most advanced chip lithography technology has reached a few nanometers. Similarly, high-performance carbon fiber also requires that the internal defects of carbon fiber be controlled within 10 nanometers. Carbon fiber also needs to undergo high-temperature carbonization from ordinary room temperature to 1700 degrees Celsius or even 2500 degrees Celsius, and the temperature accuracy must be controlled within 5-10 degrees Celsius. The difficulty can be seen. It can be said that each bundle of carbon fiber material is obtained through thousands of tempers. Because of the high technical requirements and the difficulty of manufacturing, the price of carbon fiber is relatively expensive. The price of aerospace-grade carbon fiber ranges from thousands to tens of thousands of yuan per kilogram, which is dozens of times the price of steel and aluminum alloy. However, carbon fiber has become an indispensable key material for national economy and national defense construction due to its excellent performance.
Supporting materials for modern manufacturing industry
Carbon fiber has both the high strength of carbon materials and the softness and processability of fiber textile materials. A bunch of high-strength carbon fiber as thick as a finger can pull an airplane. Carbon fiber can also be woven into fiber cloth, woven and cut into specific shapes as needed, and cured with resin to become a material with higher strength than high-strength steel. Because of its many excellent properties, carbon fiber is widely used and has become an important supporting material in high-end equipment, major infrastructure projects, new energy and other fields such as aerospace, electricity, and transportation.
In the field of aerospace, the amount of carbon fiber used is often used as an important indicator to measure the level of aerospace equipment. Carbon fiber composite materials can be used in the manufacture of aircraft, satellites, rockets, etc., and can also help products reduce noise and save fuel. For example, civil airliners use carbon fiber composite blades, which are more than 500 kilograms lighter than traditional titanium alloys, and the overall weight of the fuselage is reduced by 1 ton. The fuel consumption of the aircraft is greatly reduced, and the range is effectively improved. Adding carbon fiber to propellants and propellants can also improve the mechanical properties of the propellant, increase the burning rate of the propellant, and improve the combustion performance of the propellant.
In the automotive and wind power fields that are closely related to people's livelihood, carbon fiber has become a tool to improve performance. Carbon fiber composite materials have low density, light weight, high rigidity and strong suction. The energy absorption capacity of the material during collision is 6 to 7 times higher than that of steel structure. Using carbon fiber composite materials in automobile manufacturing can greatly improve the acceleration performance, braking performance, shock absorption performance and safety performance of the car. For example, in high-end and precise Formula One racing cars, all models use carbon fiber reinforced polymer-based composite materials to manufacture frames, bodies, chassis, etc., which reduces the weight of the body by 40% to 60%, which is equivalent to 1/3 to 1/6 of the weight of steel structure, and maintains sufficient strength and rigidity. Based on carbon fiber materials, some automobile manufacturers have manufactured super sports cars with a body weight of less than 300 kilograms.
In terms of wind power equipment, the main beam of the blade is the place where carbon fiber composite materials are used. These main beams are often more than 70 meters or even 120 meters long. Using large-tow carbon fiber for manufacturing can significantly reduce the weight of the blade, increase the rigidity of the blade, greatly improve the cost performance of the product, and improve the power generation efficiency and stability of the entire unit.
In the manufacturing of sports equipment, carbon fiber can also show its skills. At present, the use of carbon fiber in the manufacture of high-end sports equipment can help athletes break through their limits and create new records. For example, in the manufacture of tennis rackets, bicycles, golf clubs, skis, and kayaks, giving full play to the advantages of carbon fiber materials in terms of light weight can reduce the "burden" of athletes. Compared with aluminum alloy rackets, athletes can increase the maximum ball speed by 20% to 250 kilometers per hour when using tennis rackets made of carbon fiber. In the future, with the improvement of technology and the reduction of costs, more sports equipment will use carbon fiber.
Combining industry, academia, and research to strengthen the carbon fiber industry
Since the beginning of the new century, my country has organized superior scientific and technological forces to carry out scientific and technological research on carbon fiber. After more than 20 years of unremitting efforts, breakthrough progress has been made in the engineering, industrialization, and localization of carbon fiber. In August this year, the 1,000-ton industrial production technology of domestic T1000-grade polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber passed the technical appraisal of the expert committee. Immediately afterwards, the country's first 10,000-ton high-performance carbon fiber production base was built in Xining. China's carbon fiber industry has grown from nothing to something, from something to big, and from big to excellent. The technical level and industrialization development momentum are good, and research and application have entered a new stage of rapid development.
In this production field where industry, academia and research are highly integrated, providing the market with a series of products with rich varieties, stable quality, sufficient output and reasonable prices is the key to the iterative upgrading of carbon fiber technology. According to international standards, carbon fiber products are divided into different models according to strength and modulus, such as high-strength, high-modulus, high-strength medium-modulus, high-strength high-modulus and other series. Among them, the high-strength series is divided into T300, T800, T1000 and other models according to tensile strength. Carbon fiber products with different application fields are like scientific research topics that need to be solved one by one. Even the lowest grade T300 carbon fiber has several times the strength of the general automobile anti-collision beam, and the difficulty of research and development can be imagined. With the joint support of software and hardware technologies such as molecular design, polymerization engineering, solidification molding, and equipment fine control, my country has successively broken through the key technologies of T300, T700, and T800-level polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fibers during the "10th Five-Year Plan" to the "13th Five-Year Plan" and achieved large-scale production. In 2022, my country's carbon fiber production will account for 1/3 of the world.
With the increase in production, the production of ultra-high-performance carbon fiber is also in urgent need of us to "reach the top" and achieve large-scale and stable production. T1000-grade carbon fiber is one of the highest-strength carbon fiber series in the world. Domestic carbon fiber manufacturers and Shenzhen University have worked together to tackle this technology. According to the test of domestic authoritative institutions, the performance of this type of carbon fiber products produced on an annual production line of 1,700 tons has reached the level of international products of the same level, and the product quality qualification rate is higher than 95%. With the steady progress of production, T1000-grade carbon fiber materials will help meet the growing and urgent needs of my country's high-end industrial field.
Driven by both policies and markets, my country's carbon fiber technology has been continuously improved, and the carbon fiber industry chain has been gradually improved. From catching up and catching up to making persistent efforts and climbing to the top, on the road to achieving high-level scientific and technological self-reliance, carbon fiber technology will contribute a more solid and powerful "Chinese strength".