China's domestic carbon fiber equipment sector is undergoing a fundamental shift from fragmented practices to unified standards. In July 2026, the Standardization Administration of China officially approved the "Terminology, Classification and Model Designation Method for Complete Sets of Polyacrylonitrile Fiber Production Equipment," which will take effect on February 1, 2027. This is the first national standard in this niche field, directly targeting the most critical and weakest link in the carbon fiber supply chain—precursor production equipment.
Standard Implementation: Completing the Puzzle from Precursor to Carbonization
The new national standard was jointly led by Zhejiang Jinggong Integrated Technology Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Huachuang Carbon Fiber Technology Co., Ltd. Its core mission is to unify the previously chaotic equipment naming system: all process stages—polymerization, spinning, drawing, drying, and solvent recovery—now have standardized terminology, classification, and model designation rules. Before this, China's precursor equipment market lacked unified standards, with different manufacturers using different names and classification logic for the same equipment. This caused significant communication overhead during production line design and frequent compatibility issues during equipment procurement.
Notably, this is not Jinggong Technology's first move in carbon fiber equipment standards. In June 2025, its led "Terminology, Classification and Model Designation Method for Complete Sets of Fiber Carbonization Production Equipment" had already been implemented. Carbonization is the key heat treatment step that turns precursor into carbon fiber, and precursor quality directly determines the final strength and stability of carbon fiber. The two national standards covering precursor production and carbonization treatment mean that China's standard system for full-process carbon fiber equipment is now complete. For the industry chain, this provides a "common language" for naming, classification, and model designation of all equipment from upstream polymerization and spinning to midstream carbonization.
Industry Impact: Dual Benefits of Efficiency and Cost Reduction
The direct changes brought by this standard are seen in two dimensions: production line design and equipment procurement. Previously, due to the lack of unified specifications, downstream carbon fiber manufacturers had to spend considerable time deciphering technical documents from various suppliers when purchasing precursor equipment sets, sometimes even requiring dedicated technical liaison personnel to coordinate equipment interfaces and process parameters. With unified terminology and model designation, buyers can quickly assess equipment functions and application scenarios based on standard model numbers, significantly shortening the selection cycle. For equipment manufacturers, standardized classification also means more precise market positioning and product line planning, avoiding redundant development.
Deeper significance lies in yield rate and cost control. The spinning precision, drawing uniformity, and temperature control during drying of PAN precursor are core variables affecting carbon fiber quality. With unified equipment standards, the performance indicators of each stage become comparable, allowing producers to systematically optimize process parameters. For China's domestic carbon fiber industry, precursor costs account for over 50% of total carbon fiber costs, and the intelligence level and standardization degree of equipment directly determine mass production yield. The establishment of the standard system is expected to push domestic precursor equipment from "usable" to "good-to-use," thereby reducing dependence on imported equipment.
Industry Outlook: From Standard-Setting Power to Global Competitiveness
Jinggong Technology has clearly stated that it will continue to collaborate with Huachuang Technology, leveraging the promotion of these two national standards while advancing group standards applications. The focus will be on tackling core bottlenecks such as large-tow, high-performance PAN precursor and carbonization equipment sets. Large-tow carbon fiber is mainly used in industrial fields like wind turbine blades and automotive lightweighting—areas with the most urgent demand for domestic substitution. High-performance PAN precursor, on the other hand, is the foundation for high-end applications in aerospace and national defense. Breakthroughs in these two directions are directly related to the security and controllability of China's entire carbon fiber industry chain.
From a global perspective, carbon fiber equipment standards have long been dominated by traditional powers like Japan and Germany. China's launch of two national standards in just two years—covering both precursor and carbonization—signals a shift from "following" to "running alongside" and even "leading." The improvement of the standard system not only benefits domestic industry chain coordination but also provides technical endorsement for domestic equipment exports. When Chinese companies offer carbon fiber production lines to overseas clients, unified standard numbers serve as the most intuitive technical business card.