Subtitle: From fishing rods to aircraft, how does a yarn leverage a trillion-dollar market?

Glossary: Carbon fiber yarn - the microscopic code of "black gold"

Carbon fiber yarn is a collection of thousands of carbon fiber filaments with a diameter of only 5-10 microns. Its core component is a carbon atom crystal with a carbon content of more than 90%, which is made through a high-temperature carbonization process. This yarn not only has the characteristics of "light as a feather and strong as steel" - the strength is 7-10 times that of steel and the density is only one-fourth of that, but also has the advantages of high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, and fatigue resistance57.

Take the common "3K yarn" as an example, "K" represents the number of filaments in the yarn (such as 3K means 3,000 filaments). Through different weaving processes, Carbon fiber yarn can be processed into woven fabrics, prepregs and other forms, becoming a key material for lightweight in aerospace, automobiles, new energy and other fields210.

Technological breakthrough: from "stuck neck" to independent innovation

In recent years, Carbon fiber yarn technology has ushered in a number of breakthroughs:

Cost and performance dual optimization: Japan's Teijin's latest tow unfolding technology reduces the thickness of 3K carbon fiber woven fabrics from 0.2 mm to 0.15 mm, while reducing costs by 35%. This technology makes Carbon fiber yarn more competitive in automotive interiors, sports equipment and other fields2.

Domestic counterattack: China National Building Materials, Guangwei Composites and other companies have made breakthroughs in dry-jet wet spinning technology. Domestic T800-grade Carbon fiber yarn has been used in the fuselage of C919 large aircraft and has achieved a production capacity of 10,000 tons. Weihai's "China Carbon Valley" has a full industrial chain layout and occupies 90% of the global wind turbine blade carbon plate market78.

New track for low-altitude economy: With the rise of eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft), Carbon fiber yarn has become the core material of fuselage structure. Jilin Chemical Fiber Group has jointly developed lightweight blades with drone companies to promote the landing of the low-altitude economic industrial park, with full production and sales of 910 orders.

Advantages and Applications: From "Niche" to "Universal"

Carbon fiber yarn is reshaping multiple industries with its unique properties:

Aerospace: The AG600 "Kunlong" amphibious aircraft uses carbon fiber prepreg components, which can reduce the weight of 5-6 people and improve fuel efficiency by 15%10.

New Energy Wind Power: Large offshore wind turbine blades rely on Carbon fiber yarn reinforcement. Global demand is expected to reach 90,000 tons in 2025, becoming the largest growth point73.

Automobile and Transportation: BMW i3 has tried a full carbon fiber body. Although it has not been promoted on a large scale, hydrogen fuel storage tanks and subway lightweight components have been widely used68.

Civil consumption: Huawei Mate X6 mobile phone inner screen support layer, high-end badminton rackets, building reinforcement materials, etc. Carbon fiber yarn is moving from "high-cold technology" to daily life85.

Challenges and the future: The "Song of Ice and Fire" of the trillion-dollar market

Despite the broad prospects, the industry still faces dual challenges:

Overcapacity and price war: Domestic carbon fiber production capacity is nearly 140,000 tons, but demand growth has slowed down, prices have been halved from the high point in 2022, and small and medium-sized enterprises are under obvious pressure16.

High-end applications rely on imports: Japanese Toray and other companies still monopolize the aerospace-grade high-end yarn market, and domestic substitution needs to break through the bottleneck of process stability67.

However, policies and innovations are injecting new momentum into the industry:

Low-altitude economy is listed as a national strategy, and the demand for carbon fiber per eVTOL machine reaches 100-400 kilograms, with a potential market size of 1,000 tons910.

Green transformation drives the demand for wind power and hydrogen energy, and coupled with the mass production of domestic large aircraft, Carbon fiber yarn may usher in a new round of explosion37.

Conclusion: The "heavyweight" mission of a yarn

From fishing rods to heavy equipment of a great power, Carbon fiber yarn is leveraging the transformation of "heavy industry" with "lightweight". In the future, with the deep integration of technology iteration and application scenarios, this "black gold" yarn may become a hidden champion of global industrial upgrading. As the chairman of Weihai Guangwei Composite Materials said: "Every gram of material releases infinite possibilities!

Contact Us

WEITENGROUP is a first-class manufacturer and supplier of high-performance sealing and insulation products and a leading manufacturer of carbon fiber yarn in China. We provide a wide range of carbon fiber yarn with excellent quality. For more detailed information about carbon fiber yarn, please contact us at export@weitengroup.com or call +86 - 13370996824.