Proportion of country and purpose:
American 74.40% 13.60%
Japan 4.00% 33.60% 62.40
Carbon fiber can be processed into fabric, felt, mat, belt, paper and other materials. In addition to being used as thermal insulation materials, carbon fiber is generally not used alone, and is often added to resins, metals, ceramics, concrete and other materials as reinforcement to form composite materials. Carbon fiber reinforced composites can be used as aircraft structural materials, electromagnetic shielding materials, artificial ligaments and other body replacement materials, and can also be used to manufacture rocket shells, motorboats, industrial robots, automobile leaf springs and transmission shafts.
Carbon fiber is a new material for military and civilian use, and it is a key material with intensive technology and sensitive politics. In the past, COCOM, led by the United States, imposed an embargo and blockade policy on socialist countries at that time. Although COCOM was dissolved in March, 1994, the shadow of embargo and blockade still hung over the sky, and advanced carbon fiber technology, especially high-performance polyacrylonitrile-based precursor technology, could not be introduced. Even if China joins the WTO, the situation will not change much. Therefore, China people have no choice but to continue to develop the carbon fiber industry on their own. Therefore, foreign countries, especially Japan, South Korea and other countries with leading carbon fiber production technology, have always maintained a very cautious attitude towards the export of carbon fiber materials and products in China. Only a few China enterprises can establish cooperative relations with them and have import channels for their products.
At present, the world's carbon fiber production has reached more than 40,000 tons/year. The three major companies in the world, Toray, Dong Bang Rayon and Mitsubishi Rayon, as well as the three companies in the United States, such as HEXCEL, ZOLTEK and ALDILA, as well as the German SGL Sigri Group, South Korea's Guang Tai Industry and Formosa Plastics Group in Taiwan Province Province, China, have mastered the core technology of carbon fiber production and have produced it on a large scale. At present, there is no large-scale carbon fiber factory with an annual output of 100t in Chinese mainland, and most of them are still in the pilot scale-up stage. It is worth mentioning that Formosa Plastics Group in Taiwan Province Province of China introduced a100t carbon fiber production line from American Hitco Company in the mid-1980s. After digestion and absorption matching, Formosa Plastics production increased rapidly, but the quality of carbon fiber did not improve significantly.
The research on carbon fiber in China began in the 1960s, and the research on high-strength carbon fiber began in the 1980s. Over the years, progress has been slow, but some achievements have been made. Since the 20th century, it has developed rapidly. Anhui Wanhua Carbon Fiber Company took the lead in introducing 500 tons/year precursor and 200 tons/year polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber (only at the T300 level of Toray carbon fiber), which enabled China's carbon fiber industry to enter industrialization. Subsequently, some manufacturers also joined the ranks of carbon fiber production. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently two polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber production enterprises 12 with different production scales (5-800t/year) in China, with total production capacity1310t/year and product specifications 1K, 3K 12K. However, due to the fact that some enterprises have no precursors to burn, the total domestic carbon fiber output is less than 40 tons/year, and the product quality is unstable, and most of them can't reach T300 level. Fortunately, since 2000, China's carbon fiber has been developing towards technical diversification, giving up the original manufacturing technology of nitric acid precursor and adopting one-step wet spinning technology with dimethyl sulfoxide as solvent. At present, a few domestic T300 and T700 carbon fiber products developed by independent technology have reached the international level of similar products.
With the increasing demand for carbon fiber in China in recent years, carbon fiber has been listed as a new product supported by the national chemical fiber industry and has become a hot spot in the research and development of new materials industry in China. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently 1 1 carbon fiber production enterprises planned or under construction in China, with a total precursor production capacity of 7 100 tons/year and a total carbon fiber production capacity of 1560 tons/year, including 4 enterprises under construction, with a total precursor production capacity of1/kloc.
Although the development of carbon fiber production in China is slow, the consumption has been gradually increasing and the market demand is strong. The main uses include sports equipment, general industry, aerospace and so on. Among them, the use of sports and leisure products is the largest, accounting for about 80% ~ 90% of consumption. The demand for carbon fiber in China has exceeded 3,000 tons/year, and will exceed 5,000 tons/year in 20 10. The main application fields are: mature markets include aerospace and national defense fields (aircraft, rockets, missiles, satellites, radar, etc. ) and sports and leisure products (golf clubs, fishing gear, tennis rackets, badminton rackets, arrow shafts, bicycles, rowing boats, etc. ); Emerging markets include reinforced plastics, pressure vessels, building reinforcement, wind power generation, friction materials and drilling platforms. The markets to be developed include automobiles, medical devices and new energy sources.
The development of carbon fiber composites in China began in the mid-1970s. After nearly 40 years of development, it has made great progress and is widely used in leading aerospace products (missiles, arrows, satellites and ships). In recent years, the demand for carbon fiber in sports and leisure products, pressure vessels and other fields in China has increased rapidly. The rapid development of aerospace technology urgently needs high-performance carbon fiber and its composites, and the market demand is more vigorous.
In order to meet the increasing demand for carbon fiber in the domestic market, the localization and scale of carbon fiber industry in China should be realized as soon as possible. Therefore, we must speed up technological innovation and master core technologies; Accelerate the development of precursor technology and develop high-purity precursor; Strengthen applied research and market development, and further expand application fields. Carbon fiber has a bright future in China, but we should sum up the experience and lessons of polyester and other chemical fibers to avoid blind development and realize healthy development.
For the manufacture of large aircraft and the development of aerospace industry, China must also realize the industrialization of high-strength medium-modulus carbon fiber as soon as possible. However, because high-performance carbon fiber is an indispensable material for the development of cutting-edge technologies such as aerospace, it has long been blocked by the Paris Coordination Committee headed by the United States. Although Batumi was dissolved in March 1994, the shadow of the embargo still exists. Even if the embargo against China is lifted, it can only be general carbon fiber at first, and it will not sell us high-performance carbon fiber technology and equipment. Therefore, the development of high performance carbon fiber must rely on ourselves. In the 11th Five-Year Development Plan of China's chemical fiber industry, "from increasing the quantity to developing high-tech fibers" is put forward, especially the high-tech fiber materials related to national industrial safety are the most important, and carbon fiber is listed as the first high-tech fiber variety that the country urgently needs to break through in the short term, which creates conditions for the development of carbon fiber in China. We should seize this opportunity, strive to innovate and develop carbon fiber with independent intellectual property rights to meet the growing demand. The National "863 Plan" and relevant ministries and commissions pay attention to the development of China's carbon fiber industry and its industrialization pace, and give strong support. Many material experts have also done a lot of work in a down-to-earth manner. During the 11th Five-Year Plan period, China launched the related "973 Plan". It is believed that the Eleventh Five-Year Plan will be the golden period for the industrialization of carbon fiber industry in China.