China's high-strength carbon fiber shows strong potential in strategic emerging industries

China's domestically developed T1200-grade ultra-high-strength carbon fiber holds broad application prospects in strategic emerging industries, according to its developer.

The country on Wednesday unveiled SYT80, a domestically developed T1200-grade ultra-high-strength carbon fiber, marking a major breakthrough in the China's high-performance carbon fiber technology.

This new material has achieved a hundred-tonne-level annual production capacity, making China the first nation to mass-produce this caliber of fiber, according to its developer, China National Building Material Group Co., Ltd. (CNBM).

Featuring lightweight and high-strength properties, the fiber's diameter is less than one-tenth that of a human hair, and yet its tensile strength is 10 times that of ordinary steel and its density is only one-quarter of steel's.

"Compared with the previous-generation T1100, T1200 has seen its tensile strength increase by more than 14 percent. With its ultimate lightweight and high-strength characteristics, T1200 can achieve weight reduction of over 10 percent for equipment in related fields. It holds broad application prospects in strategic emerging industries such as commercial aerospace, low-altitude economy, and humanoid robots," said Chen Qiufei, head of T1200 ultra-high-strength carbon fiber research and development at Zhongfu Shenying Carbon Fiber Company, a subsidiary of China National Building Material Group.

The new material also possesses many other outstanding properties.

As the fiber undergoes carbonization at nearly 2,000 degrees Celsius during production, its chemical properties remain stable and its corrosion resistance is excellent.

This fiber material also features strong fire and flame retardant properties, offering good safety performance.

The development of this fiber material demonstrates China's fully independent and controllable capabilities across the entire industrial chain of high-performance carbon fiber, spanning technologies and equipment as well as the transition from laboratory research to mass production, said Zhou Yuxian, chairman of CNBM.

China's high-strength carbon fiber shows strong potential in strategic emerging industries

The second World Humanoid Robot Games, which kicked off in Beijing on Saturday, presented grand robot formations at its opening ceremony, demonstrating synchronized marching, formation changes, and acrobatic stunts.

The marching formation display tested the robots' motion control, autonomous obstacle avoidance, and integrated standing-walking-running capabilities.

Three formations of autonomous robots took part in the parade. The first was comprised of 80 robots marching with uniform steps, synchronized arm swings, and perfectly aligned ranks. The robots also changed formations while moving.

Achieving such synchronized group movement required enhanced environmental perception, precise individual spatial positioning, and group coordination. According to the training team, all of this depended on the robots' computing power.

"The main control system placed in the robot's chest cavity has ultra-strong mobile computing power. All calculations are completed on this platform before being sent to all end effectors to execute the commands. It uses a WiFi and 5G dual-line setup to ensure real-time communication stability. We trained them for nearly two months," explained Dong Hao, vice president of research and development at Beijing Accelerated Evolution Technology Co., Ltd.

Another formation of 50 adult-sized robots were trained to march to the main stage, with two breaking ranks to perform high-difficulty "Thomas flair" gymnastics moves and other stunts, before all robots exit in perfect unison.

These robots will also compete in soccer, running, high jump, and tug-of-war during the games, demonstrating humanoid robots' autonomous perception, motion control, and group coordination capabilities.

Droids demonstrate precision marching at world humanoid robot games opening