Developing high-performance fiber materials independently by overseas people and breaking the technological blockade overseas
On the second day of the Industrial Expo in September 2020, a newly emerging enterprise announced to its clients that after 15 years of scientific research and development, domestically produced alumina continuous fibers have finally completed pilot testing and walked out of the laboratory.
At that time, the attendees of the Industrial Expo were unaware that just two years later, taking advantage of the construction of the Lingang New Area in the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone, Shanghai Rongrong New Materials Technology Co., Ltd. built an advanced production factory with a production capacity of over 100 tons and became the third enterprise in the world and the first in China to have the ability to mass produce such products.
When searching for a production workshop in Lingang for the first time, Rongrong New Materials proposed a factory building requirement with a length exceeding 185 meters and a height exceeding 16 meters. Due to the special production process of alumina continuous fibers, there is a high space requirement for the factory building. In order to meet the requirements of the enterprise, the staff of the Lingang New Area have been running around for more than half a year, "Sometimes the height is enough, but the length is a bit short; sometimes the length is enough, but the area is small."
Finally, they helped the company find a warehouse that was originally rented to a logistics company. Once the equipment is moved in for debugging, the company can start mass production. Only a month later, the company began the first phase of trial production here.
During this period, the Lingang New Area vigorously supported the development of enterprises through industrial and talent supporting policies. Due to the smooth trial production in the early stage, in October 2021, the company acquired land in Lingang and officially started construction of the Shanghai Rongrong Advanced Manufacturing Base for New Materials. In August 2022, the factory was scheduled to top up the equipment and it was completed and put into operation on October 25th.
Why is the Lingang New Area willing to put in a lot of effort for such a company? In fact, this is closely related to the strategic significance of the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone. Aluminum oxide continuous fiber is internationally recognized as a new generation of main material for high-temperature resistant hot end components. Due to its high melting point, low thermal conductivity, good insulation, and strong resistance to chemical erosion, it can be widely used in high-end fields such as aviation, aerospace, shipbuilding, thermoelectric, petrochemical, semiconductors, automobiles, and high-temperature furnaces. It is also the only high-performance fiber material in China that has not achieved stable mass production breakthroughs before.
Over the past 10 years, the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone has focused on promoting high-quality industrial development and continuously promoting institutional innovation, with the aim of paving the way for emerging industries and technology industries. After taking root in the free trade zone, Rongrong New Materials has finally opened up all the "checkpoints" from research and development to production of continuous alumina fibers, creating a complete industry chain of high alumina reinforced composite material colloid and prepreg production, fiber production, fabric production, structural component production, and shape testing. The quality is fully aligned with international industry benchmarks, all process equipment is self-developed, core equipment and raw materials are domestically produced, and we have completely independent intellectual property rights, completely breaking the overseas technology blockade.
When the factory was established, Rongrong New Materials already had a production capacity of 400 tons/year for continuous alumina fibers and filament products, and 600 tons/year for short alumina fibers, making it the largest alumina fiber manufacturer in China with scale advantages. This is also the third project in the world with mass production capacity of this type of product, following Japan's production capacity of 1000 tons and the United States' production capacity of 4000 tons.
Now entering the factory of Rongrong New Materials, a wave of hot air is rushing towards us. 16 production lines over 100 meters long, machines flying around, and global orders flying like snowflakes. And what comes off the production line are products such as alumina continuous fibers, fabrics, ribbons, ropes, sleeves, yarns, sewing threads, needle punched blankets, etc., which have been widely used in high-end composite materials such as resins, metals, ceramics, etc.
"The company also plans to complete the industrial promotion and application of aluminum oxide fibers within three to five years, and move towards a broader market, providing high-strength and high-temperature resistant composite materials and composite shaped structural components for the upgrading and replacement of high-end equipment in China." said the person in charge of Rongrong New Materials.
However, the story of Rongrong New Materials and Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone has not been finished. On September 8th this year, the Baise Municipal Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Rongrong New Materials officially signed an agreement on the Baise Alumina Fiber Products Project. The agreement clearly states that Rongrong New Materials will invest approximately 10.7 billion yuan to build an advanced manufacturing base for Rongrong New Materials with an annual output of approximately 10000 tons in Baise. After completion, these 10000 ton factories will become the largest single alumina fiber product factory project in China and even globally. "Rongrong will also further explore the application prospects of civil products, including new energy vehicles, photovoltaics, energy storage, fire safety, etc.," said Xu Jun, Vice President of Rongrong New Materials.
And this business expansion has not only brought about a qualitative leap in Rongrong's new material production capacity, but also a vivid portrayal of the deep overlap of the national free trade strategy and the national key development and opening up pilot zone strategy. The reporter learned that the Lingang New Area of the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone, as a highland of the national free trade strategy, has been continuously practicing greater efforts to take the lead and open up to the outside world at a higher level in recent years; Guangxi Baise Key Development and Opening up Pilot Zone is a pilot zone approved by the State Council. It is an important node city for the country to promote the construction of new land and sea routes and the "the Belt and Road". It is also the front and window of China's opening up and cooperation to ASEAN. This industrial linkage has further strengthened the construction of a unified regional market, as well as the rational layout of the supply chain and industrial collaboration.
The relevant person in charge of Baise City revealed that after the establishment of Rongrong New Materials in Baise, it is expected to leverage Baise, a bridgehead open to ASEAN, to achieve the "going out" of Chinese technological products and truly promote "free trade zone manufacturing" to the global market.
