Carbon Fiber Application

Carbon fiber is a kind of rare material widely used in aerospace, aviation and other fields, it is as thin as hair, the weight is less than 1/4 of steel, the strength is 7 to 9 times that of steel, and the corrosion resistance is super strong, known as “black gold” “king of new materials”. The use of carbon fiber materials for launch vehicles can not only reduce weight, but also reduce the energy of burning rocket.

It is estimated that every kilogram of rocket weight reduction can reduce the use of 500 kilograms of fuel. At the same time, the smaller the weight of the rocket, the more payload it can carry, and every additional kilogram of payload also means a reduction in the cost of delivery. The high strength of carbon fiber can not only resist the impact of strong cosmic rays, but also better avoid problems such as material deformation caused by the large temperature difference between day and night in space, can also play an excellent and stable role under extremely harsh conditions.

On February 4, 2021, the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games torch – “Flying” came out, which is the world’s first carbon fiber composite material to make the Olympic torch shell. Sinopec participated in the development and production of the torch, and also undertook the development of the torch streamer and the mass production of the entire torch. The torch shell burning section of the previous Olympic Games is generally made of metals, such as steel, aluminum alloy, etc., but the torch shell made of Sinopec carbon fiber composite materials is not only beautiful in appearance and comfortable in the hand, but also reduced by about 30% compared with the metal material, which has the advantages of light, solid and beautiful.

Carbon fiber is strong and light, but also has the “soft” of textile fiber. “Flying” uses three-dimensional weaving technology, with black strands, each containing 12,000 carbon fibers. After three-dimensional weaving, the torch shell is finally woven like a “knitting sweater”, which can withstand high temperature and fire resistance, and can be used normally in a burning environment of about 800 degrees Celsius, also can withstand the high temperature generated when the torch burns for a long time. This is the first time that carbon fiber materials have been used in the torch, and it is also a wonderful appearance of carbon fiber materials independently produced in China, which has gathered the attention of the world.

In the body manufacturing, the superior performance of carbon fiber is also promising. At the beginning of 2022, carbon fiber independently developed and produced by Sinopec was successfully applied to the Guangzhou Metro Line 18 “Bay Blue” high-speed train, “Bay Blue” became the first subway train in China, the head cover of which uses lightweight high-strength carbon fiber composite materials.