In recent years, China's carbon fiber industry has made great progress, but subject to the problems of low research and development capacity and uneven quality, China's carbon fiber market has long been in a monopoly of imported products. High import prices and strict technical blockade severely restrict China's carbon fiber. development of. With the gradual breakthrough of key technologies and the continuous realization of large-scale production, China's carbon fiber industry will usher in the spring of development driven by downstream demand.

Carbon fiber has low density, high strength, lighter weight than aluminum, higher strength than steel, and has the soft processability of textile fiber, corrosion resistance, high temperature resistance, fatigue resistance, good impact resistance, and low thermal expansion coefficient. Good electrical and thermal conductivity and electromagnetic shielding are of great significance in supporting the transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing industry and ensuring national defense security. In the future, China's four major industries - large aircraft projects, offshore wind power, car lightweight development and high-speed railways will undoubtedly drive the strong growth of carbon fiber demand. According to the annual average growth rate of China's carbon fiber demand in recent years, China's carbon fiber demand is expected to maintain an average annual compound growth rate of more than 15% during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. By 2022, China's carbon fiber demand will exceed 50,000 tons.

Technology continues to innovate and improve

China's carbon fiber industry started in 1962. During the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” period, carbon fiber production began to show significant growth. At the same time, the developed countries headed by the United States and Japan have always maintained a strict technical blockade on China's carbon fiber industry. Since China cannot independently manufacture on a large scale, China's carbon fiber consumption has still relied mainly on imports for a long time, and prices have remained high. However, with the continuous innovation of technology, raw silk production technology and equipment, carbonization production technology and equipment have been continuously improved. China's carbon fiber industry has entered the second stage of rapid development, and in recent years has broken through the core technology of carbon fiber manufacturing. China's self-developed 1000-ton high-strength/100-ton medium-mode carbon fiber industrialized production system has been built, which has achieved large-scale domestic mass production of high-strength carbon fiber, and its performance has reached world-class level.

In recent years, the carbon fiber industry has been moving frequently, and the iconic movements have emerged. Under the responsibility of the Shanxi Institute of Coal Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Engineering Laboratory for Carbon Fiber Preparation Technology, which was jointly established by the Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, completed the acceptance. Effectively organize a number of research institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences with enterprises and users, and integrate test platforms and engineering production lines in different directions, such as carbon fiber and supporting materials, to promote the development of carbon fiber preparation technology driven by the needs of users and accelerate the development of carbon fiber. Manage engineering and socialization processes. The Special Fiber Division of Ningbo Institute of Materials of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has made a major breakthrough in the field of high-strength and high-modulus carbon fiber localization preparation technology. The high-performance carbon fiber has a tensile strength of 4.86 GPa and a tensile modulus of 541 GPa. The modulus reaches the foreign similar product M55J (540 GPa). At the same time, its tensile strength is much better than M55J products (4.02GPa), breaking the foreign technology monopoly in this field and filling the domestic technology gap. The research team of Shanghai Jiaotong University Professor Wang Xinling successfully developed the first domestic carbon fiber composite material recycling technology and equipment with completely independent intellectual property rights, and reached the international advanced level to fill the gap in this field in China. This technology breaks through the problem of sustainable development of the industry, while avoiding the abandonment of 5 billion yuan of high-recovery value materials.

The project of “Dry-jet wet-spinning 1000-ton high-strength/100-ton medium-mode carbon fiber industrialization key technology and application” completed by Zhongfu Shenying Carbon Fiber Co., Ltd. won the first prize of 2017 National Science and Technology Progress Award and realized production and Stable operation. The project breaks through the key technologies of dry-jet wet-spinning 1000-ton high-strength/100-ton medium-mode carbon fiber industrialization, and realizes the bulk supply of domestic carbon fiber, filling the blank of high-performance carbon fiber production technology represented by dry-jet wet spinning process in China. It has broken the long-term monopoly of foreign high-performance carbon fiber enterprises in the Chinese market, making China catch up with developed countries such as the United States and Japan in the field of composite materials.

Dry-jet wet spinning is the most advanced technology recognized for the preparation of high-performance carbon fiber. Before 2012, only the Japanese Toray and the US Hexcel were mastered. This process is considered to be the mainstream process for carbon fiber production in the future, but it is also recognized as a difficult spinning technology in the carbon fiber industry.

At present, Zhongfu Shenying has systematically mastered the T700 and T800 grades of kiloton technology and the T1000 grade, M30 grade and M35 grade 100 tons of technology. The market share in the domestic carbon fiber market has reached more than 50% year after year, which greatly promoted The development of China's carbon fiber composites industry.

Huge downstream value-added space

Relevant information shows that 40 yuan / kg of raw silk, processed into an automotive composite material of about 3,000 yuan / kg, aviation composite materials of about 8,000 yuan / kg, the added value is huge. As one of the top ten areas of “Made in China 2025”, the new material will achieve faster development, and carbon fiber as a typical representative of new materials will benefit significantly. In recent years, China's carbon fiber demand has maintained rapid growth. However, at present, the carbon fiber application in the domestic market is at the low end, mainly in the sports industry. At present, the highest selling price is aerospace composite materials, which accounts for only 2% of the domestic market and 50% of the sports industry.

As a national strategic new material, carbon fiber has a wide range of applications in aerospace, missile rocket weapons, tank armor materials, etc., especially polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based high-performance carbon fiber, due to its excellent comprehensive performance, it has become a national defense and The key strategic materials for national economic construction are the material basis and technological pioneers for the development of high-tech, cutting-edge defense technologies and traditional industries in the world. PAN-based high-performance carbon fiber is the core shell material of modern high-performance intercontinental and medium-range missiles. Dry-jet wet spinning is an advanced preparation technology for high-performance carbon fiber in the world. It was previously only owned by two companies in Japan and the United States. With the breakthrough of the key technologies of dry-jet wet-spinning 1000-ton high-strength/100-ton medium-mode carbon fiber industrialization, China has not only broken through the core technical problems of dry-jet wet-spun carbon fiber, but also achieved a series of major scientific and technological achievements. In the future, with the increasing investment in China's defense, the renewal of existing equipment, and the increasing proportion of carbon fiber composite materials used in defense aerospace and the need for equipment replacement, the demand for carbon fiber in the defense field will increase year by year.

Related companies accelerate the layout

As a new composite material, carbon fiber is widely used in aerospace, automotive lightweight, industrial intelligence, nuclear energy utilization, marine engineering, military industry, medical equipment, etc., although it is currently severely constrained by the high cost, mass production process and lack of equipment. Its large-scale application in the field of high value-added, but most companies are optimistic about the carbon fiber market prospects, is accelerating the layout in the field of carbon fiber materials.