Reflections on Composite Materials: Development of China's Carbon Fiber and Its Composite Industry Chain

In a French automotive industry consolidation, Faurecia sold its automotive exterior business to Omni Plastics for 665 million euros. The two companies signed an agreement on December 14.

The deal does not include Faurecia's composites business, Hambach's SMART plant and two joint ventures in Brazil and China. The sale of the business includes car bumpers and front-end modules, according to a press conference, the business had sales of 2 billion in 2014. 90% of Faurecia's business is located in Europe.
Chief Financial Officer Michel Favre said in a conference call on December 14 that Faurecia also had a major plan for the composites business, which included a composite lift door and a fiber roof as well as interior and seating components. Company leaders believe that composite materials will be very useful in the long run. As automakers continue to look for ways to reduce vehicle weight to meet emissions standards, Faurecia expects demand for composites to grow significantly after 2020.
Let’s review history and learn from neighbors.
In the 1960s, we started developing carbon fiber almost simultaneously with Japan and the United States. In the 1970s, Japan and the United States had a rapid development in the field of carbon fiber; and the "7511 Battle" organized by General Zhang Aiping of China also achieved great results. In the 1980s, Toray announced the development of its top product T1000; while Formosa Plastics, Zoltek and other companies have just started; China has invested in the introduction of the British production capacity of 100t / a engineering line for Jilin Chemical Industry Corporation (now PetroChina Jilin Chemical Co., Ltd.) Subsequently, Beijing Institute of Chemical Technology (now Beijing University of Chemical Technology) used the United Nations funding to introduce experimental equipment with a capacity of 10t/a in the UK. In the 1990s, the world carbon fiber pattern changed dramatically. Cytec acquired Amoco's carbon fiber division into the carbon fiber sector, Hexcel acquired Hecules carbon fiber into the carbon fiber sector, SGL acquired RKCarbon into the carbon fiber field, and Zoltek acquired the Hungarian acrylic fiber plant to lay the foundation for low-cost carbon fiber. China's carbon fiber business is basically in a state of stagnation. In 2001, Mr. Chang Xuxu, an academician of the two academies, wrote to President Jiang Zemin a "report report on accelerating the development of high-performance carbon fiber", which reignited the torch for the development of China's carbon fiber, especially since 2007 (during the 11th Five-Year Plan), China. Into the booming carbon fiber investment period, a large number of carbon fiber manufacturers were born in just a few years, but most of them are at low level of repeated construction projects. At least 4 to 5 cities and 6 to 7 enterprises across the country have claimed a capacity of 10,000 t/a when they went to the project. What's more, some companies have used the name of carbon fiber technology, and they have 4 to 5 companies. With the cooperation of central enterprises, state-owned enterprises or private enterprises, they have invested huge amounts of money and repeated investment to build “10,000-ton carbon fiber projects” in various places. Even in the current situation that the carbon fiber industry has been in trouble, it is still in close cooperation with a certain city, claiming to be in the city. The small tow carbon fiber project with a capacity of 30,000 yuan/a on the investment of 3 billion yuan has not been PAN raw silk technology, but it is nicknamed itself as the "father of carbon fiber" in China. The favor of some governments and investment companies has even been supported and touted by some well-known experts and authorities. It is a strange thing! It also shows that this kind of "burning money" investment behavior has gone crazy to the point of no more!

Through a brief review of this history, it can be concluded that the industrial management of China's carbon fiber and its high-performance composite materials is seriously lacking. In the early days, we relied on the central organization to fight; in the later period, we relied on famous scientists to appeal and promote; and later, they were each in the same position, and they worked hard to copy each other. Today, more than 30 companies (except for a few military-designed enterprises) have collectively fallen into an unprecedented predicament: on the one hand, thousands of horses are rushing to the "single-wood bridge", but the technology is not closed, and there is no innovation ability. The product quality is not as good as people. And the cost is too high, the long-awaited vision of carbon fiber and its composite materials, many of which are not present and unrealistic in China, the price is suppressed by the international market in the area of ​​serious losses, resulting in domestic carbon fiber or even a loss at a loss, hope It is becoming a bubble. On the other hand, there are still new projects, huge sums of money and enthusiasm under the “Douge Bridge”. The macro management of the entire industry can be described as chaotic! Some people disagree with this and think that the market economy should go through this process of squad and survival. But ask: Is China's investment in carbon fiber a real market economy? The answer and the facts are that most of the projects are supported by national and local governments, banks and central enterprises. This is obviously a product of the "market economy" with typical Chinese characteristics!

Compared with China's carbon fiber development model, it is incredible that in 2007, a Turkish AKSA acrylic fiber company was involved in the carbon fiber field. In just a few years, it became a shocking "dark horse" with its Aksaca carbon fiber performance. The grade from A-42 (equivalent to Toray T300) suddenly broke through A-49 (equivalent to Toray T700), the total production capacity jumped to 3500t / a, from the 2010 market in China, only two and a half years, just in China The market has created a miracle of selling 1,500 tons of carbon fiber, and the annual sales volume is more than the actual annual sales volume of all carbon fiber companies in China (referring to qualified products)! Is this just a guide, is it not enough to make us shocked and ashamed of the big country of carbon fiber national strategy? Next, South Korea's Taekwang and Hyosung, as well as Saudi Arabia, India and other countries have been involved in the carbon fiber companies in recent years, will also quickly rise in the international carbon fiber field, then we will be embarrassed?
Let us now look at the development of carbon fiber and its composite industry chain.
Carbon fiber composite industry chain: From the application of polyacrylonitrile to high-performance carbon fiber composite products, it has formed a long industrial chain. Each of these segments is full of sophisticated technology and quality
Overview of application status of carbon fiber composite materials: sports equipment, aerospace and military. Carbon fiber composite core wire. Carbon fiber composite material for wind power blades. Vehicles. Vehicles
The current status of China's PAN-based carbon fiber industry
    According to incomplete statistics, 32 to 35 companies in China have invested in the research and development and production of carbon fiber. There are 19 of them who own the original silk.
In terms of the types and specifications of carbon fiber production, only Bluestar produces 24k carbon fiber among all the manufacturers. The Shanghai Petroleum Acrylic Fiber Division has a plan for large tows. Other manufacturers mainly produce kk products of 12k or less. Most manufacturers claim that the product reaches the level of Toray T300. At least five companies have announced that their products have reached the Toray T700 level, but there are few batch sales in the market. At least four companies have announced that their products meet the main technical indicators of Toray T800. One of the companies in Jiangsu has announced that it has taken the lead in solving the continuous production stability problem of carbon fiber production lines in China. Even the mechanical properties and dispersion coefficient of its carbon fiber products surpassed Dongli. The indicator of the T800. At present, apart from Beijing University of Chemical Technology, no company has announced the production of high modulus carbon fiber (similar to Toray M40).
At present, the price of 12k carbon fiber with domestic strength of 3000MPa is about 120 yuan/kg in the market. The price of 12k carbon fiber of A-42~A-49 model of Turkey AKSA company is about 135~145 yuan/kg respectively. The price of Taiwan carbon fiber is the same as that of Turkey. About 15% higher, the price of Japan's Mitsubishi TR50S-12k carbon fiber is about 155 yuan / kg, while the price of Japan Toray T700-12k carbon fiber is chaotic, about 180 ~ 200 yuan / kg, if according to Toray 22 to 25 US dollars /kg international price, plus import tariffs and value-added tax, the price to the Chinese market should be 200 yuan / kg, may be due to lower prices last year, domestic stocks sold this year, or lead to Toray T700-12k price confusion the reason. The above prices make almost all carbon fiber suppliers unprofitable, especially domestic carbon fiber companies. Many manufacturers sell at below cost. The more sales, the greater the losses. On the one hand, the huge capital investment in the carbon fiber production line and the existence of a large number of product technology and quality problems are tangled, and on the other hand, the loss of sales, carbon fiber enterprises have thus fallen into an unprecedented predicament.
People can't help but ask, how is the low price trend in the domestic carbon fiber market formed? Is it the result of vicious competition between domestic carbon fiber companies? Or are foreign veteran carbon fiber companies interested in suppressing China's new carbon fiber industry? Or is it in the growth stage of China's carbon fiber due to poor quality, can only be marginalized by the market? But for whatever reason, it is not what we can control. Only by breaking the deadlock, we will strive to break through the road of "besieged city."
Although some companies have actively explored the downstream carbon fiber industry chain, they have quickly entered the processing of prepregs and various types of fabrics, and even the manufacture of composite parts products. However, they found that they also faced a lot of technical problems after entering these industries. The quality, performance and cost performance of the products were not high, and it was difficult to win in the market competition or enter the high-end market. In the end, the stalls are getting bigger and bigger, and the roads are getting harder and harder, and the company may fall into a bigger predicament.
Reflection
Change concepts and enhance the cooperative benefits of industry, university and research
The general development model of China's carbon fiber and composite materials industry is the combination of experts and enterprises. There are many examples of successful cooperation between experts and enterprises, but there are also many conflicts of cooperation. For example, some engineers and technicians look down on experts and think that they are talking about what technology they are saying. However, there are no problems at the scene. Many problems on the spot are solved by engineers and technicians. On the contrary, some experts look down on the engineering and technical personnel of the company and think that you Even the basic knowledge of carbon fiber does not understand, how can we do a good job of carbon fiber? There are also some companies that are blindly confident after solving certain engineering and technical problems. They think that they are already experts in carbon fiber and understand everything. The contradiction between science and engineering has evolved into a contradiction between experts and enterprises, which is extremely unfavorable for the development of carbon fiber in China.
On the one hand, due to the confidentiality of carbon fiber technology in various countries, it is very difficult to introduce real experts with systematic experience in the international talent market. Therefore, a small number of domestic experts are rare valuable assets of the country and a technical support for the development of carbon fiber. From polyacrylonitrile to raw silk, from raw silk to carbon fiber, and then from carbon fiber to widely used composite materials, it forms a large and complex carbon fiber and composite material industry chain, and there are many basic research sciences similar to mechanisms. The problem has not been well explained by the theory, and the engineering practice experience of the enterprise cannot be solved. It is worth noting that some of our entrepreneurs have achieved brilliant success in the traditional industrial field, with a strong sense of patriotism, and devoted themselves to the carbon fiber business. Every day, we study the problem beside the production line. This spirit is worthy of admiration, but if Effectively motivating scientists to climb the climax of the scientific peak and form a continuous and expanding research and development strength, I am afraid that it is more effective than your body. Therefore, entrepreneurs must be open-minded, look far-sighted, refrain from impetuousness, respect scientific and technological personnel, and strive to establish a good sharing mechanism to promote experts to study carefully, constantly overcome technical difficulties, and use their research results to guide engineering practice.
On the other hand, in the entire industrial chain of carbon fiber and its composite materials, in addition to the academic and theoretical research of basic scientific research, there are still a large number of engineering practice experience and technology, especially large-scale industrial production lines, and few experts in China Practical engineering experience. After all, there is currently no efficient, stable, continuous and low-cost carbon fiber industrial plant in China, so experts have no way to accumulate engineering experience after amplification or maturity. The main experience can only be explored by the engineering engineers and experts of the enterprise in the process of practice. These valuable experiences should be the basic data for the verification of scientific theories of experts and further in-depth research, so it should be respected and recognized by experts.
Only the mutual promotion and spiral promotion of scientific research and engineering practice can truly form a complete technical system with both scientific theories and engineering practice experience. This is a necessary condition for China's carbon fiber and its composite material industry chain to develop sustainably and catch up with developed countries.
Drawing on the successful experience of foreign countries, strengthening the construction of composite materials sharing database in China
Composite materials are not so much materials, but also a structure. This feature poses a problem for structural designers. They expect to have a material performance database like the metal material design manual, so that composite materials are more easily used in various industrial fields. use. The United States Space Agency (NASA) and the United States Aviation Administration (FAA) have been promoting the construction of a shared composite database in the aerospace sector, mainly through three phases of development:
The first stage, the traditional mode. For a new aircraft model, the designer must first apply to the airworthiness authority for the Airworthiness Type Certificate (TC), and the TC applicant will conduct a Qualification for the composite supplier and report all documents and data. The relevant authorities of the navigation authority conduct an airworthiness compliance review. After the review is passed, the TC applicant will list the supplier in its list of qualified suppliers. Intellectual property rights such as databases, material specifications, and process specifications formed by the implementation process are generally owned by TC applicants. TC applicants are generally reluctant to share such data and knowledge with other aeromodel design and manufacturers. Other TC applicants must repeat the material identification work even if they use the same material, which results in waste of funds and time delays. For small aircraft design and manufacturing companies, these wastes are almost unacceptable.
The second phase, the AGATE phase. Since 1994, the AGATE (Advanced General Aviation Technology Experiments) project has been organized in NASA, FAA, and 70 US companies, academic institutions, and government agencies. In the field of general aviation, develop a common composite material identification and performance equivalent judgment method and rules, establish a shared database, greatly reduce the cost and time of material identification, and accelerate the general aircraft design, development process and airworthiness certification.
The third stage, the NCAMP stage. In 2005, NASA technicians realized that AGATE's approach should be extended from the general aviation field to the entire aviation industry, thus establishing a permanent organization (National Center for Advanced Materials Performance, NCAMP), and the composite material manual CMH-17 (formerly known as MIL-HDBK-17). , managed by the US military) to continue to optimize these methods, and to the development and application of these methods, but also become the operation and maintenance of shared databases and service providers [14].

According to the above-mentioned US experience in the creation and development of composite materials database in the aerospace field, we believe that China's aerospace sector should speed up the study and absorption of the above-mentioned experience, and actively play the "post-development advantage", not taking the historical path, and establishing similarly as soon as possible. “NCAMP” organization; a large amount of composite material data in the United States is based on data from domestic or Japanese and European manufacturers. We must actively encourage our local fiber companies, composite materials companies and composite users to provide various types of data and increase the data. Promote publicity in composite users, use detailed experimental data to dispel the concerns and concerns of application units using domestic composite materials, and actively encourage them to use and use; composite materials sharing database should not be limited to the aerospace field, should be extended to All other application areas; composite materials database should not be limited to domestic, but also to international promotion, let foreign users understand the development progress and standard specifications of China's composite materials, so that the Chinese database becomes an integral part of the world database. This work can also help to promote the products and technologies of China's carbon fiber and its composite industry chain enterprises, and is an extremely effective and authoritative marketing idea and means; the construction of this shared database is also to maintain the unity and common progress of the industry. Tie, give full play to the group advantage of "I am for everyone, everyone for me", abandon the low-level virtuous vicious competition, and use technology and quality to win a place in the international composites industry in China.
Strengthen the macro management of the industry and vigorously promote the relief and development of the entire industrial chain