China's high-performance carbon fiber sector has reached a milestone. In July 2026, a joint project by Zhongjian Technology, Donghua University, and Harbin Institute of Technology passed a scientific achievement appraisal organized by the China National Textile and Apparel Council, with the overall technology rated at world-leading level.
Core Technical Breakthrough
The project's key value lies in solving the industry pain point of structural defects during high-speed wet spinning. Traditional wet processes often cause micro-cracks and core-skin inhomogeneity when increasing production speed, severely affecting final mechanical properties. The team established a complete wet-process high-performance carbon fiber preparation system, achieving precise control of PAN precursor crystal size and effectively suppressing core-skin structure through nano-defect and microcrystal size balance control.
The final carbon fiber achieves tensile strength of 6600 MPa and tensile modulus of 335 GPa, placing it in the global first tier for high-performance carbon fiber. For downstream aerospace and defense applications, this means domestic materials can now compete with international top-tier products on key mechanical parameters.
From Lab to Production Line
Beyond the technical breakthrough, the project's industrialization significance is equally important. The team innovatively designed large-channel external-heating pre-oxidation furnaces and multi-zone integrated carbonization furnaces, achieving long-cycle stable operation while significantly reducing total energy consumption. The project now has a stable annual production capacity of 5000 tons of wet-process high-performance carbon fiber, with products already applied on a large scale in aerospace and defense sectors.
In terms of intellectual property, the project holds fully independent IP rights, with 25 invention patents and 30 utility model patents granted, and participation in drafting one national standard. This means from core processes to key equipment, domestic carbon fiber has achieved full-chain self-reliance, no longer constrained by foreign technology blockades. For the textile and chemical fiber industry, carbon fiber as the top-tier high-performance fiber category will drive the entire value chain toward high-end and differentiated upgrading.
Industry Impact and Market Expectations
Carbon fiber has extremely high entry barriers in aerospace, long dominated by international giants like Toray and Hexcel. This domestic breakthrough with large-scale production capacity will directly reshape the supply pattern of the high-end carbon fiber market. For domestic composite processors and defense suppliers, supply chain security is significantly improved, and procurement costs are expected to decline.
Looking at industry trends, carbon fiber penetration in wind turbine blades, automotive lightweighting, and hydrogen storage tanks is accelerating. The wet process offers cost and scalability advantages over dry processes, and this breakthrough may drive wider adoption in industrial applications. However, scaling beyond 5000 tons still requires solving raw material quality stability and downstream application validation cycle challenges.