Winners of the CCE-JEC Innovation Awards 2024 revealed

Category 1: Raw materials

High-performance bio-based thermoplastic fibre composites

Exhibitor: Cathay Biotech Inc.

Bio-based polyamide fabricated by monomers from biomass through one-step polymerisation has significant cost advantages. Continuous glass/carbon fibre bio-based polyamide prepregs are easier to process and have lower lifecycle costs and environmental pressures on the user side than thermoset composites. Bio-based polyamide composite laminates break through the technical barriers of high fibre filling amount, improve the mechanical properties, possess high-temperature resistance and wear resistance, and improve moisture absorption and water absorption.

Bio-based polyamide composite plate instead of steel plate is used as the bottom plate of a semi-trailer, showing the characteristics of wear resistance and corrosion resistance.

Polarfin® PP60 Adhesion Promoter

Exhibitor: Interface Polymers Limited

Polarfin® PP60 Adhesion Promoter is a 60-micron PP film coated with Interface Polymers Ltd.’s patented Polarfin® diblock copolymer technology. It could create a PP surface ready for painting or adhesion, which remains in this ‘ready’ state for upwards of one year, simplifying supply chain logistics, eliminating defects and reducing failure rates compared to typical time-limited surface activation methods.

Polarfin® PP60 is suitable for various polypropylene (PP) and PP composite applications requiring enhanced adhesion of PP surfaces to paints, glues, and UV curing inks. Typical uses include truck bodies and floors, battery packs, composite bumpers, trailer side walls, automotive parts, suitcases, sporting goods, and laminate flooring.

The products have been tested and approved by leading global PP composite panel producers, including Hangzhou Holycore Composite Material Co. Ltd., Giant Leap Composites, Berkleba, Impact Guard, etc.

 

SYT45-3K Carbon Fibre

Exhibitor: Zhongfu Shenying Carbon Fiber Co., Ltd.

Zhongfu Shenying’s 3K carbon fibre is produced by dry-jet wet spinning technology, which is an upstream product in the supplying chain and an important raw material for fabrics, prepregs, and composite materials. Based on the advantages of high strength, lightweight, lower fuzzy, easy weaving, excellent elongation and ultimate strength, 3K carbon fibre meet the special preparation requirements of weaving thinner fabrics, winding pipes, etc. In addition, 3K carbon fibre could greatly improve the service life of equipment and reduce maintenance costs due to good corrosion resistance and resistance of conventional acid, alkali, salt corrosion and oxidation damage.

According to the China Chemical Fibers Association, which calculated and issued relevant certification documents based on the market supply schedule, in 2022, the company’s 3K carbon fibre ranked in the top place with a global market share of 22.1%, while the domestic market share is 44.7%, ranking first nationwide.

Room temperature curing special high-temperature resistant vinyl ester resin and its composite materials

Exhibitor: Sino Polymer Co., Ltd.
Partners: China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC)

MFE W5 phenolic epoxy vinyl ester resin is a high-temperature and solvent-resistant speciality resin material with an excellent overall performance developed and produced by Sino Polymer Co., Ltd. It is suitable for making many kinds of corrosion-resistant whole FRP products with high temperature-resistant requirements, such as pipes, containers, storage tanks and other chemical equipment.

At present, as the only domestic mass production of room temperature curing low viscosity vinyl ester resin products with T_g more than 220℃, it has been highly recognised by the market and has been used in bulk in the ship and environmental protection industry, realising millions of dollars of profit. It has been recognised and praised by customers and has already realised the batch use of hand-layup and vacuum introduction process.

Alumina continuous fibre and other products

Exhibitor: Shanghai Rongrong New Materials Technology Co., Ltd.

Rongrong New Materials insists on tackling and industrialising the core technology of continuous alumina fibres. Through independent research and continuous innovation, they have mastered core technologies such as alumina fibre prepreg manufacturing, ceramic-based composite forming, alumina fibre multi nozzle electrospinning, needle punching reinforcement, water jet process and specific fabric weaving. They have achieved large-scale production of alumina fibre and associated products, filling the domestic gap and solving the “bottleneck” problem in this field.

The products could be widely used in the fields of national defence and security, aerospace, nuclear energy, petrochemical, iron and steel metallurgy, ceramics, new energy, automobile manufacturing and 3C electronics, etc. For domestic and global customers, Rongrong is providing a full range of service support from front-end oriented research and development to back-end after-sales.

Category 2: Applications

Segmented polyurethane composite 5G smart lamp pole

Exhibitor: Beijing FRP Institute (Tengzhou) Composite Materials Co., Ltd.
Partner: Beijing Composite Materials Co., Ltd.

The product is composed of multi-segment polyurethane composite materials, and each segment is connected by connectors. The main rod is formed by polyurethane prepreg fibre winding, and the auxiliary rod is formed by polyurethane resin and reinforcing material. It could be used in smart cities, traffic systems, public safety, image display and IoT (Internet of Things) applications.

Polyurethane composite material has the characteristics of lightweight, high strength, anti-wear resistance, anti-corrosion resistance, good electrical insulation performance and lightning protection ability. Segmented design makes the installation and maintenance more convenient, reduces the construction cost and time and increases flexibility.

Currently, 6 sets of prototypes have been installed, and have received high praise from customers.

Multi-purpose high-strength CFRP cable

Exhibitor: Zhongfu Carbon Fiber Core Cable Technology Co., Ltd.

This product is a multi-purpose high-strength CFRP cable, including CFRP parallel rod cable and CFRP stranded cable, the cable body carbon fibre bar was prepared by the pultrusion process. CFRP parallel rod cable is made by parallel arrangement of multiple CFRP rods into cable strands, supporting bonded anchors and external PE protective layer; CFRP stranded cable is made of multiple CFRP bars through spiral arrangement, and made of special clip anchor and PE sheath. This product has excellent mechanical properties and wide use, which is of great significance for reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions of engineering structures and realizing the “3060” double carbon target.

The products have been applied in the cantilever structure of Shanghai Midea Global Innovation Park, Linquan River Bridge, Qingdao Fenghuang Mountain Road cross-Feng River Bridge, Suzhou Jiasheng Cafe steel structure and other projects, creating better economic and social benefits.

 

The composite fairing with sandwich structure formed by automatic fibre placement

Exhibitor: Hiwing Aerospace Materials Research Institute (Suzhou) Co., Ltd.

This product is an engineering component of a launch vehicle fairing with a diameter of 1.6 m and a length of approximately 2.8 m. The skin is formed by Automatic Fibre Placement (AFP), and it is the first domestically reported sandwich structure composite component manufactured by AFP. It explores an important technical solution for the mass production of large-scale fairing.

This project independently developed the technology route for AFP, solving the problems of fibre angle deviation control and deployability design in the fibre laying path of cone column transition integrated forming, limited sandwich pressure bearing capacity and dense compaction of skin prepreg layers. It broke through the quality control technology, mastered the key technology for automatic manufacturing based on domestic raw materials and equipment significantly improved the forming efficiency and quality stability and explored new engineering and technical solutions for improving the manufacturing technology level of large-sized sandwich structure composite materials represented by carrier rocket fairing structures.

Sinoma108 onshore high-performance blades

Exhibitor: Sinoma Wind Power Blade Co., Ltd.

Sinoma108 blades are suitable for S wind area, 8.0MW series onshore wind turbines is a completely independent design and development of all glass fibre onshore large blades, using pultruded glass plate, the design annual average wind speed of 7.5m/s, covering II.~III. wind area.

With its excellent performance and adaptability, Sinoma108 has met the needs of the “Sha Ge Huang” project and has strongly promoted the continuous progress of onshore leaf technology.

Next generation high-speed rail components – carbon fibre equipment bay bracket

Exhibitor: Zhuzhou Times New Material Technology Co., Ltd. (TMT)

The equipment bay bracket (includes slides and camber beam) is a bridge connecting the bottom frame, the lower side beam and the skirt plate of the equipment bay, and is the main load-bearing equipment of the skirt plate and the bottom plate. It realises the replacement of aluminium alloy profile brackets and completes the iterative upgrading of materials and structures.

It is the first time that the technology scheme has been designed and applied on high-speed rail in China, and through the actual loading test, the maximum speed has reached 453km/h.

High modulus carbon fibre M80 and T700 have been combined in designation, to meet the rigidity requirements. Compared with aluminium alloy, the combination of hollow thermal expansion and external hot-pressing process is used to ensure internal and external dimensional accuracy and achieve integrated moulding. The product has been successfully applied in the world’s leading comprehensive test vehicle for the next generation of high-speed EMUs, helping the vehicle to achieve a weight reduction of 12%, drag reduction and energy saving of 20%, and successfully achieving the intersection of 891km/h.

Multifunctional composite lightweight cylinder with large aspect ratio

Exhibitor: Harbin FRP Institute Co., Ltd.

The product is currently mainly used in the aerospace field, with significant lightweight, low-carbon environment friendly, intelligent monitoring, protection and precise guidance, offering internal equipment with initial movement speed and posture, and achieving new quality productivity. The technology of large aspect ratio multifunctional composite lightweight cylinder can be further promoted to various lightweight and multifunctional fields such as navigation, rail transit, new energy, 5G communication, etc., promoting industrial innovation and sustainable development. The length-to-diameter ratio of the product is 25:1, achieving 60% weight reduction. At present, it has been promoted and applied in multiple products, promoting the development of equipment in higher precision and cutting-edge fields.

High-speed permanent magnet synchronous motor sheath

Exhibitor: Weihai Guangwei Composite Materials Co., Ltd.
Parter: Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics

This product is a high-speed permanent magnet synchronous motor produced by the thermoplastic PEEK-based carbon fibre prepreg independently developed by Guangwei Composites as raw material, through a high prestress winding process, combined with “laser in-situ consolidation” technology. The technology is at the world’s leading level and fills the domestic gap. The product successfully achieved a speed of 36,000 rpm in the laboratory.

Up to now, Guangwei has developed and produced more than 10 types of magnetic steel embedded high-speed motor rotor sheaths and more than 30 types of magnetic steel surface-mounted high-speed permanent magnet motor rotor sheaths. Products have passed bench testing and installation and have established long-term cooperation with famous new energy vehicle enterprises, electric drive host factories, and military colleges. Some of them have been supplied in bulk.

Composite material architecture used for consumer electronic devices

Exhibitor: Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co., Ltd.

Through continuous research and development, large-scale applications of composite materials have been achieved in Xiaomi products. Especially in the 2024 Xiaomi Mix Fold 4, composite material architecture is used on a large scale for the first time in 3C industry, bringing huge benefits to the thinner and lightness of the product.

Multiple structural parts of the Xiaomi Mix Fold 4 folding products use continuous CFRPs to achieve a full-carbon architecture and use ‘tough/rigid/tough’ three-dimensional lamination to build a super strong dragon scale fibre protective back cover. The carbon structure and dragon scale fibre not only make the product lightweight but also provide stronger protection for mobile phones.

• CF battery compartment: Extremely thin CF prepreg UD tapes, only 0.18mm thick, 75% lighter and 64% thinner.
• Rotating shaft floating plate: Precision moulding processing, one-step moulding. 23% cost reducing and 28% stiffness increasing.
• Under-screen support plate: Class A mirror appearance, 78% weight reduction.
• Dragon scale fibre battery cover: 30% weight reduction and a 36-fold increase in impact resistance.
• Lightweight GFRP: 23% density reduction, 55% weight reduction of the battery cover.