TAIYUAN, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) — In north China’s Shanxi, a province wealthy in coal, the black rock as soon as merely burned for power is now reborn via superior science and know-how as slender but remarkably sturdy carbon fiber that turns into important elements of rockets and spacecraft hovering into house.
A high-performance carbon fiber undertaking has just lately come on stream within the province’s Datong City, marking China’s first home large-scale manufacturing of T1000-grade carbon fiber and signaling a decisive breakthrough within the nation’s capacity to mass-produce this highest-tier materials.
Jing Deqi, a senior engineer on the Institute of Coal Chemistry (ICC) beneath the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanxi, defined that the carbon fiber produced via this undertaking has a single filament diameter of simply 5 to six micrometers — lower than one-tenth the width of a human hair — but delivers a tensile energy exceeding 6,600 MPa. With a density solely one-quarter that of metal, its energy is greater than 5 instances higher. For instance, a one-meter bundle of T1000 grade carbon fiber weighs barely 0.5 grams but can help a load of greater than 200 kilograms, roughly equal to the mixed weight of three grownup males.
Carbon fiber is a high-performance materials that accommodates greater than 90 p.c carbon. It inherits the intrinsic deserves of carbon, resembling gentle weight, excessive energy, and resistance to corrosion and warmth, whereas remaining as versatile and processable as textile yarn. These qualities have earned it the popularity of being the “king of modern materials,” making it an important materials for industries resembling aerospace, new power autos, high-end gear, sports activities items and medical units.
On a grand scale, it may be used to fabricate heat-resistant outer shells for rockets and spacecraft, type light-weight but sturdy fuselages for plane, and assemble sturdy driver cabins for top-tier sports activities vehicles.
On a smaller scale, it transforms into the carbon plates in marathon trainers that present highly effective propulsion, turns into the light-weight and resilient fishing rods in anglers’ arms, and can be utilized to make street bicycles so gentle that they are often carried up the steps with one hand.
Furthermore, carbon fiber is indispensable for the large blades of wind generators, the streamlined noses of high-speed trains and storage tanks for hydrogen gas cell-powered autos.
Previously, this materials, usually known as “black gold,” was managed nearly fully by the United States and Japanese companies, who held greater than 90 p.c of the worldwide high-end market.
The ICC pioneered carbon fiber analysis in China as early because the Nineteen Sixties and Seventies. However, at the moment, whereas high-performance pattern filaments may very well be produced within the laboratory, the hurdle of mass manufacturing remained persistently troublesome to beat.
In 2005, the institute was entrusted with a nationwide mission to develop aerospace-grade T300-grade carbon fiber and construct an industrial line. The “T” comes from the energy grading system of the Japanese firm, Toray, representing tensile energy. A better quantity signifies higher efficiency and exponentially higher manufacturing issue.
Driven by sturdy nationwide coverage help and burgeoning market demand, China’s carbon fiber trade has achieved leapfrog improvement via sustained unbiased innovation. Breakthroughs and large-scale manufacturing have been successively realized for T700 and T800-grade carbon fibers, with the home manufacturing ratio constantly rising.
At current, T1000-grade represents the frontier of ultra-high-strength carbon fiber. To grasp its manufacturing, Zhang Shouchun, deputy director of the ICC, led a workforce of their lab via years of painstaking work, lastly cracking the code for your complete lab-scale course of and laying a strong technical basis for mass-production of T1000-grade carbon fiber.
“Every step was like feeling for stones while crossing a river,” Zhang mentioned. “Though arduous, we must stride forward.”
In 2024, the institute collaborated with Huayang Carbon Material Technology Co., Ltd. to begin development of the primary section of the demonstration manufacturing line for a thousand-ton-level high-performance carbon fiber undertaking in Datong. Moving from lab to manufacturing unit via a completely indigenous chain of innovation, the workforce achieved seamless, high-efficiency translation of analysis into product.
Zhang recalled that sustaining stability throughout manufacturing was grueling. When sure parameters wavered throughout commissioning, he and his colleagues shuttled greater than ten instances a day amongst completely different workshops, checking every bit of kit. Some workshops have been hotter than 40 levels Celsius, others as chilly as 5 levels Celsius. After greater than a month of such intense effort, they lastly solved the issues.
He revealed that the undertaking adopts a self-developed technological route, with the product’s common tensile energy exceeding 6600 MPa, surpassing comparable international merchandise and delivering stronger software efficiency. This achievement locations Chinese carbon fiber firmly among the many world’s high tier by way of technical functionality.
As of November 2025, this manufacturing line had accomplished steady operation verification. The first section has achieved an annual manufacturing capability of roughly 200 tonnes.
Zhang famous that China’s achievement in technological breakthroughs and steady manufacturing of high-performance carbon fiber means attaining self-sufficiency in lots of important fields. It will powerfully drive the event of the commercial chains and foster rising industries.
The merchandise will see in depth future purposes in aerospace, rail transportation, new power autos and the low-altitude economic system, injecting sturdy momentum into the high-end, clever and inexperienced transformation of China’s manufacturing trade within the nation’s fifteenth Five-Year Plan interval (2026-2030), Zhang added.
Looking forward, Zhang mentioned the workforce will proceed striving for even increased grades of carbon fiber and rework extra technological achievements into mature merchandise to satisfy the more and more numerous wants of each sector.