In recent years, carbon fiber composites have been actively used worldwide, especially in developed countries. The global market for carbon fiber composites is expanding, with a global demand for more than 100,000 tons of carbon fiber by 2020. The advantages of high strength, lightweightness and high comprehensive performance of carbon fiber composites have attracted much attention, and in the next few years, the carbon fiber composites industry will show the following trends:
First, lightweight demand to promote the proportion of application growth
From aerospace to industrial manufacturing, innovative ways to reduce excess weight are being sought, and carbon fiber composites provide the same level of safety and reliability as similar products, with the dual goal of functional integration and weight loss. For example, a car equipped with an electric drive or fuel cell engine can increase its range by reducing the weight of structural parts or powertrain components, the most immediate case is the carbon fiber power battery box agreed upon for automotive equipment, which is one-third lighter than the metal box; Smart New Materials For the textile, printing, paper, lithium batteries and other industries to provide carbon fiber rollers, in improving production efficiency, reduce energy consumption, but also because of carbon fiber composite materials to provide good dimensional stability, chemical corrosion resistance, fatigue resistance and obtain optimized results. This lightweight application value of carbon fiber has proven to significantly increase its application ratio in a variety of industries.
Second, performance needs continue to be personalized, diversified
In order to meet the material needs of certain industries for specific projects, carbon fiber composite component manufacturers need to continuously develop carbon fiber composite materials with specific application properties, such as high temperature resistance, flame retardant, self-lubrication, electromagnetic wave penetration and other different performance characteristics, in order to expand the application of carbon fiber composites. Moreover, this adaptable application capability of carbon fiber composites in turn leads to equipment upgrades in areas such as industrial manufacturing.
Aerospace, rail transit, and automotive manufacturing often take passenger safety into account when selecting materials, and flame retardant carbon fiber composites are more suitable for such applications; Zhisuo New Materials provides custom services for high temperature carbon fiber composite components for this type of equipment, which can withstand hundreds to thousands of degrees Celsius of different operating temperatures, while maintaining low thermal expansion system, many industrial equipment requires component materials with adequate wear resistance and self-lubrication, Zhisu New Materials developed continuous enhancement of CF PEEK and other composite materials effectively enhance the self-lubrication and wear resistance of components. Furthermore, this continuous carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite product can change or regulate the actual performance of composite materials by selecting different types of substrate materials, different contents of carbon fiber, and adding processes. It can be said that the application demand in industrial and other fields has led to the development of carbon fiber composite materials.
Recyclability will become an important development goal
Thermoset carbon fiber composites are challenged from the perspective of the full life cycle of the material. To address this problem, there are now two main solutions: first, recyclability research on carbon fiber composites on the market today, such as the recent team of Professor Jinwen Zhang of the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Washington State University replaced epoxy resins with epoxy-based vitrimer materials to create a carbon fiber composite that is easy to recycle, and the second is to replace thermoset resin-based materials directly with thermoplastic resins. For example, Zhisushi new material pioneered a continuous carbon fiber as an enhancer, to high-end thermoplastic resin as the base of thermoplastic carbon fiber composite components solutions. Unlike thermoplastic resin substrates, which have the basic conditions for recyclability and secondary utilization, this emerging continuous carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite manufacturing technology is now struggling to catch up with traditional carbon fiber-reinforced thermoset composites and is providing higher-performance applications to specific users in the aerospace, military, rail, intelligent machinery and high-end medical markets.
Source: Tencent News Network
