China, Brazil launch innovation, sharing alliance to enhance energy cooperation

Major players from the energy sectors in China and Brazil came together on Friday to launch a new industry alliance in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, aiming to further foster the two countries' energy cooperation.

The rapidly growing economic relationship between China, the biggest developing country in the world, and Brazil, the largest developing country in the western hemisphere, has once again come into spotlight.

The State Grid Corporation of China, together with Brazil's electricity regulator, major power firms, and 16 academic and research institutions, set up the China-Brazil Electric Innovation and Sharing Alliance.

Thiago Barral, secretary of Energy Transition and Planning in the Ministry of Energy and Mines of Brazil, said the event has brought the cooperation to a next level as the launch of the alliance will also promote technological growth.

"So the launch of this new alliance is a new milestone in the collaboration between Brazil and China. And I see it has taken this collaboration to a next level, to an upper level, because it reinforces the collaboration on technology development. So it's not just investing in infrastructure but developing together using Brazil scale and China scale as platforms for developing solutions, advanced solutions for the challenges of the power grids not only in China and Brazil but elsewhere," said Barral.

With sustainability being a long-time concern for both countries, and a major topic at the 19th G20 Summit which will kick off on Monday, this energy alliance also aims to provide insight into green energy development.

"China and Brazil have significant cooperation potential in power sector upgrades, especially in ultra-high voltage technology, renewable energy, grid-connection and smart grids. Currently, there is already a foundation for cooperation between the two countries in the field of power transmission. Now, both of China's two overseas UHV direct current transmission projects are located in Brazil, helping the country safely transmit clean energy to its load centers," said Wang Xiaogang, chief engineer at State Grid Brazil Holding.

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday to attend this year's G20 Summit and pay a state visit at the invitation of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The two countries are expected to go beyond areas of cooperation such as energy, and explore new frontiers in infrastructure, space exploration and artificial intelligence.

China, Brazil launch innovation, sharing alliance to enhance energy cooperation

China, Brazil launch innovation, sharing alliance to enhance energy cooperation

From everyday objects to fiber-type artificial muscles for robotic actuation, a groundbreaking photopolymerization-based 3D printing technology is playing a role in revolutionizing how we create, representing a fundamental shift from traditional methods and transforming industries and daily life.

Distinct from conventional layer-by-layer material deposition, the new technology employs light as a precision actuator. The process begins with instillation of liquid photopolymer resin that instantly solidifies when exposed to targeted ultraviolet (UV) light, which acts as an "on-off switch" for material formation.

Unlike traditional drying methods that rely on heat and air, UV curing employs specific wavelengths of UV light to achieve rapid and controlled polymerization.

This enables the material to reach its desired mechanical properties in a fraction of the time that other methods might require -- 20 to 100 times faster than traditional 3D printing -- allowing complete products to be created within just two to three hours.

At PollyPolymer -- a high-tech enterprise specializing in ultra-high-speed 3D printing technology based in Suzhou City of east China's Jiangsu Province, the technique has been hired to produce customized components, such as elastomer artificial muscles for robots that combine flexibility with durability.

"(This material) can provide shock absorption and protection. Additionally, due to its hollowed-out lattice structure, it can dissipate heat. Of course, another advantage is its lightweight nature, as it is filled with many lattices within the same structure," Wang Wenbin, the company's CEO, introduced.

More importantly, these materials can be pre-programmed and engineered to meet specific structural, elastic and mechanical performance requirements, enabling on-demand and customized manufacturing across multiple industries, Wang said, noting that precision control remains crucial to the process.

"We need very precise control because the light reaction can cause many falsifications such as distortion, leading to a decrease in accuracy. Therefore, we have designed quite a lot of algorithmic compensations in this process. Each printer has a force sensing parameter, which you can think of as a scale that knows the weight in every gram and makes corrections accordingly. Depending on the required scenario, for instance, our highest precision can now reach 2.8 microns," Wang said.

3D printing ushers in new era of instant manufacturing