The World'S 70% Fiber "Made In China" 70% Fiber Production In The Yangtze River Delta Region

When it comes to fiber, ordinary people think of clothes and all kinds of clothes.

In fact, fiber is one of the most important materials discovered by mankind today.

None of the sophisticated equipment such as spacecrafts, airplanes, missiles, high-speed rail and so on is open.

Fiber is also the guarantee of the future "intelligent life" of ordinary people.

Professor Zhu Meifang, director of the school of materials and director of the National Key Laboratory of fiber modification, tells the story of Donghua people and fiber in Donghua University.

She proudly said, "nearly 70% of the world's fiber is produced in China, and 70% of the country's fiber is produced by the Yangtze River Delta region.

Whether it is carbon fiber, nanofiber or smart fiber, as long as the needs of national development, people's life needs, there are people in Donghua fiber material research.

In 1954, the predecessor of Donghua University, East China Textile Institute of Technology (later called China Textile University), set up the first chemical fiber specialty in China, boosting the industrialization of chemical fiber and solving the problem of dressing for ordinary people.

Today, a revolution in the fiber world is changing the world. Donghua University is also developing highly advanced fibers in the world, making Shanghai an international reputation in the field of fiber research.

Smart fiber makes fiber smarter

Like the chameleon, it changes color automatically according to the surrounding environment, and the insole can automatically generate electricity through the human body during walking.

In the State Key Laboratory of fiber material modification, Donghua University, Professor Zhu Meifang first let reporters appreciate the magic of "smart fiber".

Smart fiber, popularly speaking, is able to take the initiative to perceive the fibers that respond to the external environment and react accordingly.

For clothing, accessories, household products and other necessities such as life, if you change your mind and change into smart fibers, you can generate electricity, shine, heat, change color and deformation yourself, even if it is warm in winter and cool in summer.

In the future, Shanghai will need thousands of smart fibers to support science and technology in building a smart city.

After repeated experiments, Professor Wang Hongzhi's team has realized the self discoloration of fiber under the power environment.

As long as the low voltage stimulus of 2-3v is introduced, the fiber can achieve three colors in red, yellow and blue in milliseconds, and can maintain the color for half an hour.

It can even change color even in twisting, knotting and weaving.

In April 10th, Apple Watch (Apple watch) released the full moon.

But similar wearable electronic devices still face many bottlenecks, such as charging.

"Let the watch strap turn into a charger" - experts from the school of materials of Donghua University are starting from the "key" of fiber.

If we can enhance the electrical conductivity and storage performance of the fiber, and at the same time have good knitted properties, let the energy supply devices become part of the clothes themselves, then the portability, energy supply and management can be easily solved.

Professor Zhu Meifang, led by the Ministry of education, "Changjiang Scholar" innovation team, is constantly working on the high value and intelligent research of general fiber. At present, the wet spinning method can be used to continuously produce 1000 kilometre of graphene fibers.

This kind of fiber not only has the highest conductivity of the same kind of product, but also has the highest international strength. It can be easily woven into the desired fabric type and maintain ideal electrical conductivity and strength.

At the same time, Donghua University also made important breakthroughs in the research and development of "fiber flexible solar cells".

Chen Zhigang researcher introduces that his team has developed 3 methods in the laboratory, which can directly assemble flexible semiconductor thin film solar cells.

"Figuratively speaking, it is weaving the solar cells with fiber like weaves. The power is turned into clothes in the form of fiber, which can convert solar energy into electric energy, light energy or heat energy."

Chen Zhigang frankly said that although the flexible fiber solar cell has the advantages of weaving, low carbon, environmental protection, strong endurance and light quality, it is in line with the requirements of smart clothing. However, due to the relatively high cost and the efficiency of energy conversion to be improved, it is still time for such batteries to fly into the ordinary people's home from the laboratory. "We will stick to this hard bone and persevere in it."

High performance fibers make fiber stronger.

In the fiber world, high-performance fibers have a unique position.

A carbon fiber, which looks like hair, is called "black gold". It is a fiber material fired at temperatures above 1000 degrees Celsius and containing more than 90% carbon. Its specific gravity is only 1/4 of steel, tensile strength is four times higher than that of high performance steel, its conductivity is 1/10 of aluminum, its thermal conductivity is more than two times of silver, and it can withstand high temperatures above 3000 degrees in inert atmosphere.

As an important structure

In the field of national defense, aviation, aerospace, automobile, high speed rail and construction, there is an urgent need for high-performance fibers and composites.

Professor Zhu Meifang said frankly: the ability of research and development of high-performance fibers directly reflects the competitive power between countries.

Since the 80s of last century, the generation of materials in Donghua has faced the urgent need of high-performance fiber and composite materials, and has launched a comprehensive attack on the sea, land and air.

Professor Pan Ding of Donghua University recalled that in the 80s of last century, China's top strategic weapons were faced with the last two difficult problems that could not be dealt with for a long time. One of them was the space grade high purity viscose based carbon fiber as the key material of intercontinental missile warheads. Its performance and quality directly related to the success or failure of flight.

Because of its extremely high performance requirements and extremely difficult preparation technology, only two superpowers, the US and Russia, were in the process of embargo and technology blockade.

At the critical moment, Professor Pan Ding led the carbon fiber project team to use foreign abandoned and domestic only cotton based cellulose as raw material, after 4 years of hard struggle, finally successfully developed the Jimei and Russia similar products performance of aerospace grade high purity viscose based carbon fiber, provided the key technical support for the country's number one strategic weapon.

This will not only fill the gap in China, but also make China the third country in the world to master the technology of aerospace high purity viscose based carbon fiber development.

In the past 20 years, the carbon fiber team of Donghua University has carried out in-depth research on the forming mechanism and carbonization process of carbon fiber precursor, breaking through a large number of technical bottlenecks, achieving remarkable results in the localization and stable production of viscose based carbon fiber and PAN based carbon fiber, and made significant contributions to national security and the development of domestic carbon fiber.

Polyimide fiber (PI fiber) is another kind of high-performance fiber. Compared with other organic fibers, it has higher thermal stability, higher modulus of elasticity and lower water absorbency. It can be applied in more severe environment, such as atomic energy industry, space environment, rescue and so on.

PI fiber can also be made into rope, woven fabric or non-woven fabric. It can be used for filtering high temperature, radioactive or organic gases and liquids, such as high temperature waste gas, automobile exhaust filter, fire blankets, fire retardant clothing, etc.

After electron irradiation, its strength retention rate is still 90%, which is incomparable to other fibers and has become the preferred material for aerospace.

Professor Zhang Qinghua of Donghua University has been committed to the research of PI fiber preparation.

He led the team to establish a new method of "reactive spinning" to prepare PI fibers, forming the theoretical basis and technological integration of dry spinning to prepare PI fibers, and helping enterprises build the world's first dry spinning PI fiber 1000 ton production line.

Nanofibers make fiber more friendly

"New fibers and other polymer materials are not only used in aerospace, chemical industry, but also for the benefit of human life."

Zhu Meifang said that nanofibers developed by researchers in Donghua have achieved the latest research results in biomedical engineering materials such as tissue engineering scaffolds, artificial tendons, nano composite dental restorative resins, and so on.

For example, in the surgical operation, the traditional non degradable medical suture is used. After the wound is healed, the suture remains in the body, and the internal tissue of the human body will produce rejection.

The research team led by Professor Shen Xinyuan and Professor Tan Zhiqing developed absorbable medical suture with biodegradable polyester PGLA, which has good biocompatibility, biodegradability and mechanical properties. In Shanghai First People's Hospital, clinical trials showed that it was completely absorbed in three months after implantation, which greatly reduced the pain of two operations.

It has been put on the market for more than 10 years.

By making special degradable polymer materials into three dimensional network structure, providing scaffolds for seed cells, in the process of seed cells growing and forming tissue, polymer gradually degrades and is absorbed by human body, thus forming new organs. With the development of science and technology, this slightly sci-fi color scene is gradually becoming a reality.

A team led by Zhang Yaopeng, a young scholar at Donghua University, uses silk fibroin extracted from cocoon as raw material, from single fiber to Weiner fiber membrane, and successfully develops a functional silk fibroin functional scaffold with remarkable mechanical properties.

At present, the project has worked with Department of Urology in Shanghai No.6 People's Hospital, successfully repaired the defect urethra of the dog, and obtained good animal experimental results, which is expected to be applied to human body in the future.

The National 863 project undertaken by Donghua University has developed a kind of dental restorative material with fiber reinforced organic and inorganic composite materials. This new filling resin is better than traditional filling materials in strength, toughness and biocompatibility. Compared with imported dental restorative materials, the cost of the dental restorative material is reduced by at least 2/3, which will benefit the common people.

Not only is fiber products, but the scientific research and scientific research of Donghua University is also in the forefront of the world.

According to data from Ace Vier group, the world's largest medical technology publisher, the number of articles published in 1899 has been growing rapidly since 1970s, with Chemical Fiber (chemical fiber) as the key word. The number of countries with the largest number of papers is the United States, followed by China, and the largest number of publications is China's Donghua University.

In the 2009-2013 years, the number of publications in China exceeded that in the United States. Among them, Donghua University published 255 articles, ranking first in the publishing institutions, and over the world famous universities such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology and National University of Singapore.

In May this year, the State Key Laboratory of fiber material modification of Donghua University will also co sponsor the "International Conference on advanced fibers and polymers in 2015" with the American fiber society.

The international conference, sponsored by the National Key Laboratory, has been held 6 times every two years since 2002. It has become an academic event with important international influence.

This shows the influence of Donghua in the field of polymer and fiber research in the world, and reflects Shanghai's scientific and technological strength.