China's aerospace-grade super fiber goes industrial

BEIJING -- A new generation of high-performance carbon fiber, often dubbed "black gold," has officially transitioned from laboratory research to large-scale production in China, marking a significant breakthrough in the country's advanced materials sector.

The domestically developed T1000-grade 12K small-tow carbon fiber is now being produced at scale by Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical, a milestone that is set to reshape the landscape of high-end material applications, China Media Group (CMG) reported on Wednesday.

This new material is as thin as it is strong. Each bundle contains 12,000 individual filaments, with each filament measuring less than five micrometers in diameter, about one-tenth the thickness of a human hair.

Despite its slender profile, a single tow boasts a tensile strength exceeding 6.5 gigapascals, enough to pull a medium-sized truck weighing around 10 metric tons.

With a density less than a quarter of steel but seven to nine times its strength, the material offers exceptional corrosion resistance and durability, making it indispensable for strategic industries such as aerospace, low-altitude economy, and embodied intelligence.

The achievement represents decades of dedicated research. According to Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical, the newly mass-produced fiber utilizes a unique wet-spinning process developed in-house, which gives the fiber surface a grooved texture. This design improves its bonding with resin materials during composite manufacturing, enhancing overall product performance, said the CMG report.

"We believe the wet process is more challenging, but it results in a material that is far more practical for end-use applications," said Huang Xiangyu, deputy general manager of Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical.

"This is the culmination of nearly 20 years of accumulation. It's a qualitative leap from quantitative change," he said.

The market potential for this "black gold" is vast. In the aerospace sector, carbon fiber composites are critical for reducing weight and improving performance.

Li Yongquan, an engineer at Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical's advanced materials innovation institute, cited a carbon-fiber truss for high-precision camera mounts on space satellites as an example. Weighing just one to two kilograms, this "micro-strain" structure ensures stability under extreme conditions.

"It has very promising prospects in the aerospace field," Li said.

On a grander scale, a single large commercial aircraft can require eight to 10 tons of this material for its airframe and components. Meanwhile, in the low-altitude economy, including electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and drones, carbon fiber composites are set to tap into a tens-of-billion-yuan market across high-end applications including aviation-grade primary load-bearing parts, airframe structures, and propellers, according to the report.

Huang noted that while current applications are just the tip of the iceberg, the future is expansive.

"Carbon fiber is the best lightweight material. In 20 or 30 years, it could be as ubiquitous as plastics and steel were when they first emerged," he said.

Liu Lihua, head of the No 2 Plant at Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical's carbon fiber division, noted that their small-tow carbon fiber boasts complete independent intellectual property.

"It's fully ready for mass production. We can fire up our lines the moment downstream demand emerges," said Liu.