Research and development background and significance: Carbon fiber is a high-strength new fiber material with a carbon content of over 95%. Due to its excellent properties such as high strength, lightweight, and corrosion resistance, it is known as the “black gold” and is an ideal material for equipment lightweight applications. Developing carbon fiber can help promote the upgrading of related industries and improve product performance, such as reducing aircraft weight and enhancing fuel efficiency in the aerospace field; In the field of automobiles, it is possible to achieve lightweighting and reduce energy consumption.

Research and development process: China’s carbon fiber research and development started relatively late and once relied on imports, facing a bottleneck problem. In 2005, the CCF-1 grade carbon fiber developed by Guangwei Group passed the national “863 Program” carbon fiber special acceptance, marking China’s first industrial carbon fiber. In 2011, the 5000 ton carbon fiber precursor project of Jilin Chemical Fiber Group was completed and put into operation, pioneering the large-scale production of carbon fiber precursor in China. Since then, domestic enterprises have continuously overcome technical difficulties, such as Jilin Chemical Fiber Group, which has successively developed 25K, 35K, 48K, 50K and other large fiber bundles, and improved the carbon fiber product system. In 2022, the first domestic production line for the 48K large fiber bundle carbon fiber project of Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical was put into operation and qualified products were produced. The product performance was comparable to similar products outside the United States, and the quality reached the international advanced level of 5.

Key Technology Research and Development 5:

Raw silk production technology: Raw silk quality is one of the key factors determining the performance of carbon fiber. Research and development need to address issues such as unstable viscosity, high bubble impurities, high spinning fineness, low strength, and excessive fibers in order to obtain high-quality polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precursor fibers.

Carbonization technology: The raw silk undergoes multiple processes such as oxidation, low-temperature carbonization, and high-temperature carbonization. Under inert gas protection, it undergoes thermal decomposition and thermal shrinkage polymerization, forming a disordered layer graphite structure of carbon fibers, ultimately resulting in a carbon content of over 90% in the product. Temperature field control is a key technology in this process.

Application of R&D achievements 1:

In the field of wind power, carbon fiber extruded plates can be used for the main beams of wind turbine blades, making them lighter and more efficient. Jilin Chemical Fiber Group’s carbon fiber extruded plates for wind turbine blade main beams have a market share of over 90% in the domestic wind power market.

In the field of sports equipment, it can be made into badminton rackets, skis, ice hockey sticks, etc. The related sports equipment produced by Jilin Chemical Fiber Group has been put on the market.

In the field of construction machinery, Zoomlion has independently developed the “Carbon Fiber Composite High Strength Metal Hybrid Structure Technology”. The domestically produced carbon fiber arm pump truck using this technology has been unveiled, realizing the full chain autonomy of carbon fiber composite materials from raw materials to manufacturing processes, improving equipment operation capabilities, and reducing production costs.

Future research and development direction: On the one hand, we will continue to focus on improving the performance of carbon fiber, such as strength, modulus, etc., to meet the higher requirements of materials in high-end fields such as aerospace; On the other hand, we will focus on reducing production costs, improving production efficiency through optimizing processes, improving equipment, and other means, expanding the application scope of carbon fiber, and promoting its large-scale application in more civilian fields.