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Shanghai Petrochemical and Fudan University jointly developed high-performance carbon fiber

carbon fiber, also known as "black gold". It is the "pearl on the crown" in the field of materials in the future, but it has always been an inextricable knot for domestic enterprises and research units. It takes many years, hesitating, anxiety and helplessness coexist, and the market has been monopolized by foreign enterprises

but no one expected that since 2008, with the support of the polymer research team led by academician Yang Yuliang of Fudan University, Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co., Ltd. has completed the new process research and development of carbon fiber in just four years, and opened up the whole process from precursor to carbon fiber production for the first time. Now, a production plant with an annual output of 3000 tons of precursor and 1500 tons of carbon fiber is under intense construction

"the strong basic theoretical research of colleges and universities and the engineering technology development of enterprises are seamlessly connected, so that we don't have to 'go ahead in the dark', needlessly imitate and try and error, and 'know why' without taking many detours and crossing the gap." Zhang Jianping, deputy general manager of Shanghai Petrochemical, said that after the project is put into operation by the end of next year, the monopoly position of foreign products can be broken

"the 21st century is the century of carbon fiber"

in the exhibition room of the acrylic Department of Shanghai Petrochemical, we witnessed the true face of "black gold". Seemingly ordinary rolls of black silk, but extraordinary. Its density and quality are only 1/3 of that of steel, and its tensile strength is 4 to 9 times that of steel

the latest Boeing 787 aircraft, with high-performance carbon fiber accounting for 20% of its weight, can save more than 30% fuel; The offshore wind power generation equipment using carbon fiber instead of FRP has a blade diameter of up to 100 meters, greatly improves the power generation efficiency, and can withstand seawater corrosion; A mountain bike made of carbon fiber can be lifted by children, but it is more solid and firm... "Some people say that the 19th century is the century of steel, the 20th century is the century of plastic, and the 21st century is the century of carbon fiber." Huangxiangyu, chief engineer of the acrylic fiber Department of Shanghai Petrochemical, told that now, carbon fiber has begun to be tested and applied in various new fields around the world, of which 58% is used in general industry, 23% is used in leisure sports, and 19% is used in aerospace and military equipment. However, for many years, only a few developed countries such as Japan and the United States have owned and mastered carbon fiber production technology. Japan's Toray, Toho and Mitsubishi Rayon companies account for 70% of the world's output. They never set up raw silk factories overseas, firmly control the key technology of carbon fiber, and "don't leak any information"

in the past, domestic independent research and development was "difficult", but it was not just a soft foam. Why? Because of its numerous research and development steps and extremely complex procedures, the accompanying chemical changes include dehydrogenation, cyclization, preoxidation, oxidation and deoxygenation, etc. the subtle changes in any link may make the steering switch a and B contacts and A1 and B1 contacts unable to be separated, and the whole research and development fall into a "dead end". For more than 40 years, many domestic enterprises have tried one after another, but no one really walked out of the maze and realized industrialization. The industry directly calls, "the water of carbon fiber is a little muddy and a little deep!"

what "unique skill" did Shanghai Petrochemical and Fudan University rely on to find the "key" to open the door of carbon fiber in just four years

build a bridge between theory and technology

"weak foundation, earth shaking". Yang Yuliang's words break the topic: the production route of carbon fiber is very long, which is mainly divided into polymerization, spinning, drafting, pre oxidation, cyclization and carbonization. If we follow the traditional trial and error mode of "cooking and tasting salty", we will not find the "true meaning" of carbon fiber in thousands of years

to become a "dark horse", the key lies in adopting a different idea from the past: using basic theoretical research to solve the principle of carbon fiber development "fundamentally". Yang Yuliang said that the most basic research of carbon fiber is still polymer science, which is the absolute strength of Fudan University. No matter how carbon fiber changes, "ten thousand changes cannot leave its origin"

for Shanghai Petrochemical, "hand in hand" Fudan University was a little "accident" at first. Huang Xiangyu said that in the past, in the industry university research cooperation with colleges and universities, enterprises are more willing to cooperate with engineering colleges and universities closer to industrialization, and there is little "intersection" with colleges and universities such as Fudan that are good at basic theoretical research. At first, the two sides came together with the help of the Municipal Commission of economy and information technology and other departments. But in the face of the complex theoretical model of professors from Fudan University, some engineers of Shanghai Petrochemical Company are "confused about economic transformation and development". "A series of formulas make you look big." Gu Wenlan, deputy chief engineer of acrylic fiber Department of Shanghai Petrochemical, although she is a graduate student, has never seen such a complex routine: is this "fancy" useful? Can complex numerical operations and theoretical models be associated with fine carbonized filaments

dispel doubts for the first time and let both sides trust each other, which began with the "spinning problem" in the spinning process

2. Press the reset key to reset. Gu Wenlan said that in the spinning stage of the pilot test, about 30% of the 12000 small nozzles did not produce silk for the first time, that is, 3600 spinnerets were "empty", which is far from the standard of 12K beam. Shanghai Petrochemical believes from its previous experience in the production of acrylic fiber that the problem is the mechanical structure of the spinneret, such as the thickness. Therefore, the nozzle was constantly changed, from a series to K series, and it was still as old as before. "At that time, I was a little silly. I watched the spinneret every day, hoping that a miracle could happen." During that time, Gu Wenlan didn't think about tea and rice

at this time, in the laboratory of Fudan University, Fudan team members found the root cause of the problem through physical polymer theory, mathematical calculation, computer simulation and so on: the reason is not in the spinneret, but in the internal temperature control. The professors turned dozens of pages of numbers and formulas into simple words and handed them to Shanghai Petrochemical. Everyone suddenly understood. According to the parameters provided by Fudan, Shanghai Petrochemical redesigned the equipment, and the equipment parts exceeded the requirements in only one month. Now, the wire output rate is stable at more than 96%

"if you have a direction, you won't be afraid no matter how far you go", Gu Wenlan said that in the past, you always had no direction. You keep trying according to experience, and now you realize the "power of theory"

therefore, the power of trust becomes a bridge, allowing "golden ideas" to "constantly jump" between Fudan basic theoretical research and petrochemical engineering process design: in the spinning and solidification stage, due to too many holes in the precursor, the strength becomes low. Fudan research group, based on the principle of "membrane science" requiring multiple and uniform holes, did the opposite, and solved the problem of precursor compactness

in the precursor carbonization stage, the theoretical data are directly used in the process equipment, resulting in a high wire breakage rate. Through the previous experience debugging, Shanghai Petrochemical corrected the deviation between the theory and reality

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