At present, the world's smallest drone is developed, the size of which is the size of a fly, and the main body is made of carbon fiber and weighs only 106 mg. The aircraft is expected to be used in search and rescue operations, such as entering a confined space, searching for special environmental information, etc., thus showing the development potential of military and civilian use.
According to reports, recently, some military and scientific and technological powers have set their sights on the "carbon fiber industry development" and other related fields, rushing to launch plans to accelerate the development of renewable carbon fiber materials, and adding innovative research institutions to focus on engineering nanotechnology and carbon fiber The six key technology areas are developing rapidly, and there are a large number of players in the race.
Scientific Quest "Black Gold" Carbon Fiber
The origin of carbon fiber dates back to 1860, and was invented and patented by the Englishman Joseph Swan in making electric filaments. It is a fibrous carbon material, which is black and hard. It is stronger than steel, less dense than aluminum, more resistant to corrosion than stainless steel, higher temperature than heat-resistant steel, and can conduct electricity like copper. New materials with comprehensive properties such as electricity, thermals and mechanics have been hailed as "black gold" by the industry due to their difficult manufacturing technology and high practical value.
Carbon fiber "outside soft inside rigid" not only has the essential characteristics of carbon materials, but also has the softness and processability of textile fibers, and is a new generation of high-performance reinforcing fibers. Carbon fiber and resin, carbon, ceramic, metal and other substrates that are several times thinner than hair are manufactured through a special composite molding process to obtain carbon fiber composites with excellent properties, which can be widely used in aviation, aerospace, energy, transportation, and military Equipment and many other fields are important materials for national defense military industry and civilian production and life.
Difficult to manufacture
In the 1950s, in order to solve the key technical problems of missile nozzles and warheads' high temperature resistance and corrosion resistance, the United States took the lead in developing viscose-based carbon fibers. In 1959, Akio Kondo of Japan invented the polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber. Because of the outstanding performance of carbon fiber in improving the performance of weapons and equipment in the military field, carbon fiber has attracted great attention from military powers.
Subsequently, some countries focused on investing in the continuous development of higher performance and more varieties of carbon fiber. Japan has successively broken through a series of key technical problems such as high strength and high moldability, making the carbon fiber composite materials developed with excellent anti-fatigue performance and environmental adaptability, and its overall level is leading the way.
Carbon fiber seems simple, but its manufacturing process is very complicated. It is a systematic project that integrates multi-disciplinary, sophisticated, and high-end technology. It involves chemical, textile, materials, precision machinery and other multi-disciplinary fields. Thousands of parameters, such as concentration, viscosity, flow rate and so on, are controlled with high precision. A little carelessness will seriously affect the performance and quality stability of carbon fiber, so it is far from comparable with ordinary process technology.
With the widespread application of carbon fiber and composite materials today, large-scale production has become a major bottleneck for its industrial development. Although the production principle of each order is the same, the difficulty of precise control of various process parameters is very different. The production lines of ten ton and 100 ton cannot be simply copied to the one of 1,000 ton. , Making the temperature uniformity and constancy extremely difficult to control. Because of this, currently only a few countries can stably produce high-performance carbon fiber, and the core technology has long been mainly controlled by Japanese and American corporate giants. Among them, Japan's three companies' carbon fiber production capacity accounts for three quarters of the world, becoming the industry's "big Mac."
Defense equipment reborn
According to foreign media reports, one of the most important reasons for the first flight time of the F-35 fighter jets, which are proud of its heroes, is overweight. In order to solve this problem, Lockheed Martin took a lot of measures, and finally adopted up to 35% carbon fiber composite materials to significantly reduce the body weight. So in a sense, it is the carbon fiber composite material that has made the F-35 fighter.
Today, carbon fiber composites matter for national security
Foreign forces believe that modern information warfare is both a battle of high-tech equipment and a battle of high-performance materials.
With the development of modern weapons and equipment, the trends of stealth, low energy consumption, high maneuverability, and large loads have become prominent, and carbon fiber and composite materials have become increasingly demanding. Therefore, the development of higher-strength, higher-modulus carbon fibers and matching high-performance combat systems has become the highlight of the military power's competition for cutting-edge strength. At present, developed countries are focusing on the three directions of carbon fiber, advanced resin and manufacturing technology.
At present, carbon fiber tensile strength and modulus theoretically and in the laboratory, there is huge potential and space for improvement, so fierce battle is underway.
In the field of resin research, the focus is on the development of high-toughness thermosetting resins, which can increase the long-term temperature of weapons and equipment components, and improve toughness, processability, and humidity and heat resistance. The development of thermoplastic resin can significantly improve the impact toughness and fatigue damage resistance of weapons and equipment.
Modern and advanced automated manufacturing technology can realize the integration of three-dimensional models of components into manufacturing, which is suitable for manufacturing large sizes and complex structural parts. It can effectively improve the quality and reliability of equipment and reduce costs, thereby promoting better development of the defense industry.
In recent years, in order to meet the needs of China's national defense construction and development, carbon fiber and its composite materials have been listed as key national support projects. Experts believe that focusing on building a complete and independent high-level industrial chain in the future, and striving to truly own the core technologies related to national security interests are the only way to achieve the dream of a strong country and a strong army.
Not only has it become an indispensable basic material for achieving high stealth performance, but it has also become an important indicator for measuring the advanced performance of weapon equipment systems. For example, as X-47B, Global Eagle, Global Observer, Westwind and other aircraft use carbon fiber composite materials for a higher proportion, making its payload, endurance and survivability have achieved new breakthroughs.
One of the biggest features of the active F-22 fighter is its good stealth performance, which is related to its large use of carbon fiber composite materials. In addition, F-117A fighters and B-2 stealth bombers also use carbon fiber absorbing materials, including the Swedish "Visby" class patrol ship hulls are all composite materials, so they have high stealth, high mobility Advanced long-term operational performance.
The development of the aerospace industry is even more important. For example, if the mass of a solid rocket motor is reduced by 1 kg, the range can be increased by 16 kilometers. Therefore, carbon fiber composite materials have been widely used in engine housings such as the US Patriot missile, Trident II, German HVM supersonic missile, French "Arian" -2 rocket, and Japanese M-5 rocket. An important basis for the development of advanced strategic weapons and equipment that are small, highly mobile, highly accurate, and highly penetrating.
The new high-performance carbon fiber composite material has better stability and reliability, and is currently widely used in equipment systems such as hypersonic vehicles, the International Space Station, and advanced satellites. The US Department of Defense emphasized in the "Materials Research for 21st Century Defense Demand" report that "by 2020, only composite materials have the potential to improve equipment performance by 20-25%."