People's Daily Dialogue with Prof. Huang Qizhong: Carbon-based Materials at the Base of the Pyramid
Small cell phones, home appliances parts, large ships, aircraft parts, the figure of new materials is everywhere. Carbon-based materials at the base of the “pyramid” is a “typical family” with many varieties, wide applications and high added value.
Hunan, as an important base of national carbon material resources, is in a leading position in the research and application of carbon-based materials. At present, Changsha is breaking through a number of high-precision lack of varieties, in order to enhance the industrialization of new materials and large-scale application level, to ensure the security of the industrial chain and supply chain, and to build a solid foundation for Changsha to create a national advanced manufacturing plateau.
Recently, Hunan Channel of People's Daily News invited Huang Qizhong, professor of Central South University, member of the National Expert Group on Aerospace Technology, deputy director of the Ministry of Education's Joint Research Center for New Vehicles and director of the Lightweight and High Temperature Resistant Materials Subcenter, to be a guest of People's Interview, to explore how carbon-based materials can promote the high-quality development of Changsha's advanced manufacturing industry.
People's Daily: Professor Huang's main field of research is the new materials industry, which is known as the “chassis” of the manufacturing industry, can you tell us about this emerging industry?
Huang Qizhong: New materials are indeed known as the “chassis” of the manufacturing industry, which is an important foundation for supporting national major projects and strategic emerging industries. And in the “pyramid” on the base of carbon-based materials, is a variety of wide range of applications, high value-added typical family. For example, the spacecraft ablation-resistant materials, aircraft brake materials are carbon materials, chips, hydrogen, lithium, nuclear reactors, wind energy can not be separated from carbon materials, steel, machinery, electricity must also use carbon materials, carbon materials can be said to have changed the world.
People's Daily Online: What is the carbon material you mentioned? What is the connection between it and our daily life?
Huang Qizhong: Most of the general public will find carbon-based materials unfamiliar and not well understood. But in fact, it is closely related to our production and life. Cell phones, computers, heat dissipation film, dry battery core is carbon materials, the first human chemical method of manufacturing materials is carbon material charcoal, bronze, iron, silicon melting can not be separated from carbon, so that carbon materials is the symbol of human development. Carbon-based materials mainly refers to carbon as the theme of the body of the material. It includes graphite, diamond, graphene, carbon nanotubes, fullerenes (C60), carbon isotopes C14, carbon fibers and their composites, broadly also contains silicon carbide and its composites. Carbon-based materials are widely used in aerospace, metallurgical machinery, electronic information, new energy and other fields. The development of carbon-based materials has brought many revolutionary changes to human society. For example, the industrialization of synthetic diamond development to promote the abrasives, cutting tools and other big changes, so that the machinery manufacturing industry flourished; lightweight high-strength carbon fiber and its large-scale application of composite materials to the aerospace manufacturing industry brought about revolutionary changes, the achievement of the American “dream plane” Boeing 787 was born, but also makes the high-speed flight can be a reality. Supersonic flight can be a reality. The Party Central Committee attaches great importance to the development of carbon fiber, several sessions of national leaders specifically made instructions to solve the national defense and security related to this “neck” key core materials. Another example is graphene is known as the “king of new materials”, the development of 5G communications, new energy, special new materials will bring disruptive changes. In the field of research, the scientific research of carbon materials is also highly valued. For example, a number of scientists have made breakthroughs in the field of carbon materials, and have made great contributions to the development of human science, and in this way won the Nobel Prize. Including 1906, 1960, 1996, 2010 and 2019, on the research of a carbon element was born five times the Nobel Prize, which fully proves that carbon materials in the development of human society plays an extremely important role in the process. People often say that the 19th century is the century of steel, the 20th century is the century of silicon materials, and the 21st century is the century of carbon materials. Therefore, it is of great strategic significance to vigorously promote the development of carbon materials and its industrial chain and industrial clusters.
People's Daily: Carbon-based materials industry has a large space for development, and the new materials industry represented by carbon-based materials is playing an increasingly important leading role in economic development. Prof. Huang, what is the current development of carbon-based materials industry in Changsha?
Huang Qizhong: First of all, Changsha is the cradle of carbon-based material talent training in China. 1962, Hunan University established China's first carbon-based material program, known as China's “Whampoa Military Academy” in the field of carbon-based materials. In the 1980s, National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) was the first R&D unit of silicon carbide fiber in China, and made excellent contributions to the development of silicon carbide fiber and its composite materials. CSUN has broken the foreign technology blockade in the field of carbon/carbon composites, which has provided for the strategic needs of national aerospace. Meanwhile, Central South University also leads the country in the research and application of carbon materials for lithium batteries. Based on the above three universities, Hunan has cultivated and delivered a large number of excellent high-level talents for the national carbon material industry. Secondly, Hunan is an important base of national carbon material resources, with world-class quality microcrystalline graphite mines, and its “Lutang” brand microcrystalline graphite enjoys a great reputation in the world, with its reserves ranking the first in the country, which is widely used in the fields of nuclear graphite, isostatic graphite and graphene, and the battery carbon rods made by Ningxiang Changning Carbon Company account for 80% of the world's carbon rods, and the amount of carbon rod made by Ningxiang Changning Carbon Company accounts for over 80% of the world's carbon rods. More than 80%. What's more, Changsha is proud of its leading position in the research of carbon-based materials and their applications in China.
People's Daily Online: What factors do you think have contributed to these achievements in the development of carbon-based materials in Changsha, Prof. Huang? What initiatives are key?
Huang Qizhong: I think Changsha still has an early layout and great achievements over here. Changsha City has the advantage of an innovation platform. Changsha has a number of excellent carbon materials-related platforms, including: the National University of Defense Technology has a key laboratory of national defense science and technology for ceramic fibers and their composite materials; Central South University has a key laboratory of national defense science and technology for lightweight and high-strength structural materials and the National Carbon/Carbon Composites Engineering and Technology Research Center. Moreover, Hunan has the National Graphite Product Quality Supervision and Testing Center, which has strengthened the research and application foundation for Changsha's carbon-based industrial chain clustering.
People's Daily Online: What do you think is the development prospect and key direction of Changsha's carbon-based materials industry in the 14th Five-Year Plan period? What suggestions do you have?
Huang Qizhong: Carbon-based materials are key materials for national defense security and national economic construction, and they have extremely broad downstream application fields and huge market space. Among them, carbon fiber and its composite materials, silicon carbide materials belong to the “neck” key materials. To realize the expansion and strengthening of Changsha carbon-based materials industry cluster, it is necessary to build the leading capacity of the industry that has been in the national leading position, strengthen the combination of production, learning and research, and consolidate and strengthen the development advantages, so as to make the industry from the national leading to the world leading; secondly, for the industry with high development potential, it is necessary to enhance its competitiveness, grow the scale of the industry, and push forward the industry's extended chain, complementary chain, and strong chain, so as to make the industry from the small and refined to the large and strong. Secondly, for the industry with high development potential, we should enhance its competitive ability, grow its industrial scale, promote the industry to extend and supplement the chain, and strengthen the chain, so as to make the industry change from small and refined to large and strong; and I think we should give full play to the educational advantage, resource advantage and platform advantage of Changsha carbon-based materials, and strengthen the talent cultivation and the construction of bases; and strengthening the scientific and technological innovation is especially important. At the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, the metallurgical disciplines of Changsha Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, the carbon disciplines of Hunan University and the powder metallurgy disciplines of Central South University were combined to devote themselves to the development of the synthetic diamond industry, whose output and product level had ranked the first in the country for many years. At that time, due to the protection of intellectual property rights, the government's attention, and the combination of scientific research and production workers, many enterprises did not have the core technology and scale advantage, forming disorderly competition and gradually losing their advantages, and the diamond industry in Hunan Province and Changsha City has been basically eliminated. This “Changsha diamond phenomenon” gives us a good lesson on carbon-based materials. Therefore, it is necessary to continuously improve the innovation ability of carbon-based material industry cluster, break through the key technology, so that the carbon-based material industry in Hunan Province will be clustered, high-end and healthy development, in order to better and fully implement the “three-high, four-new” strategic positioning and mission.
Source: People's Daily Online
