The power of science and technology

By Gao Huabin

Todays world is undergoing a great change that has never happened in a hundred years. The international environment is becoming increasingly complex， and the instability and uncertainty are obviously enhanced. At the same time， all kinds of pressures brought by the slowdown of global economic growth in 2020 are continuously released， especially the coronavirus pandemic， which caused the world economy to fall into the worst recession after World War II， and the economic trends of various countries showed obvious differentiation. Facing the severe and complicated situation， manufacturing enterprises must be good at capturing and creating opportunities from the immediate crisis and difficulties so as to take the lead. Fortunately， many enterprises have overcome lots of unfavorable conditions and made exciting achievements by relying on scientific and technological innovation in accordance with the major strategic requirements of "searching opportunities in crisis and opening new ones in changes" put forward by the CPC Central Committee.

At 2020 Textile Vision Science and Technology Education Awards Conference hosted China National Textile and Apparel Council （hereinafter referred to as CNTAC）， Science and Technology Awards were awarded 79 achievements and 4 scientific and technological workers. At the meeting， Li Lingshen， vice president of the CNTAC and president of China Nonwovens & Industrial Textiles Association （CNITA）， summarized the main characteristics of the winning projects as follows.

The technical achievements of medical and health textiles have become hot issues concerned by the public， and breakthroughs have been made in the key technologies for the preparation of electrostatic electrospinning superfine fibers and high-efficiency and low-resistance polytetrafluoroethylene composite fiber membrane protective materials， providing technical supports for fighting the COVID-19 and ensuring the health and safety of the people； the level of high-efficiency differential technology and equipment for chemical fiber has been further improved， and breakthroughs have been made in the production of new polyester elastomer materials and ultra-fine spandex， achieving efficient， stable and largescale production； high-quality textile dyeing and processing have been improved obviously， and new technologies such as multi-mode spinning of fancy color spinning， high-speed production of warp-knitted staple yarn， new silk reeling machine and new technology， low energy consumption and low emission weaving sizing and high quality inkjet printing have achieved remarkable results in improving efficiency and quality， enriching varieties， expanding application field， saving energy and reducing emissions， etc. Digital and intelligent textile machinery and equipment and special basic parts manufacturing have achieved fabulous achievements. The overall technology of the new generation domestic automatic winder has reached the international advanced level， and the digital warp knitting machine series equipment and its key technologies of intelligent production meet the needs of mass customized production.

Science and technology have not only changed the situation of pandemic， but also will change the trend of the industry in 2021.

Science and techonology is primary productive force

In 2020， the economic operation and daily life of most countries and regions in the world was greatly affected by COVID-19. While in countries and regions that rely on science， the situation has been quickly and effectively controlled. As a result of adopting scientific prevention and control measures and strategies， China has not only won an absolute victory in this campagin， but also become the only country in the world important economies to achieve positive economic growth in 2020.

In the process of anti-pandemic， Chinas textile industry actively responded to the call of the state， actively resumed work and production and some enterprises transformed their former products to textiles， and made full use of scientific and technological skills and tools to achieve many breakthroughs from nothing to finished products. At present， the global pandemic has not been completely controlled， and the role of science and technology in the battle will continue. Science and technology are bound to have a greater impact and change in 2021.

Technology made plodders successfully produced

During the Spring Festival of 2020， the COVID-19 broke out in first in Wuhan and later all over the country， and medical masks and protective clothing were in urgent need. The Material Support Group of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of COVID-19 allocated the urgent task of developing and producing the plodders for medical protective clothing to Hi-tech Heavy Industry Co. Ltd.， a central enterprise. The technical materials were finally produced， and subsequently put into quick production in small batches.

Li Huidong， the fitter of the processing department of the company， participated in the research and development and production of plodder machine. In view of the exposed problems， he put forward two technical solutions： in order to make the produced plodders with high quality production， it is suggested to add steel wire thread insert hole in key parts of aluminum structural parts， and the results are remarkable-not only meet usability， but also effectively improve the service life of the machine. During the test， technicians found that when the sealed layer was pressed into the protective clothing， the layer was uneven and wrinkled， which may directly affect the life safety of the front-line medical workers. After repeated inspection， it was found that there was a small amount of axial movement of the upper and lower pressing rollers. Therefore， Li Huidong as well as technicians suggested increasing the adjustment pad， which eliminated the axial gap of the lower pressing roller and solved the problem of wrinkling and unevenness when the layer was pressed into the protective clothing.

Du Yingjie， worked overtime until late at night every day during the research and development of the plodder machine， and excessive use of eyes for a long time led to bloodshot eyes. Even being persuaded to return home many times， but she was still sticking in the front line， making an important contribution to the successful development of the plodder.

On February 11， 2020， Du Yingjie， one of the members of the Party， learned that the companys R&D and public relations team of the plodder machine needed electrical engineers. She did not hesitate to take the initiative to fight. Because the company has never produced a plodder machine， and has no relative technologies and drawings， and the equipment used from different manufacturers， the manufacturers operate in different ways， so it is very difficult to write different programs to meet the needs of customers. However， she knew that it was at the critical time of pandemic prevention and control， and she had to fight every second. In order to catch up with the progress， she lived and ate in the company. When she was tired， she found a corner to lean on for a while， and then continued to work. On the morning of February 12th， she collected and analyzed the subtle movements of each part of the plodder， carefully wrote the control programs， adjusted the logical relationship of instructions over and over again， and repeatedly carried out program simulation experiments， and completed the electrical design in only 2 days. She overcame difficulties and made great contributions， which laid a solid foundation for the successful development of the tough challenge.

Comfortable and safe problems need to be solved

In mid-February， 2020， it is reported that the medical protective N95 mask worn by frontline doctors had problems of unsmooth breathing and easy condensation of water vapor on goggles， which brought great inconvenience to the frontline staffs work. The Technology Center of Shandong Jofo Company undertook a new research and development project to solve the safety and comfort of protective masks for medical staff， and determined the research and development scheme of N95 mask material with low resistance and high efficiency. Through intense equipment renovation and new technology re-search and development， the first batch of 200kg test products were handed over to the cooperative enterprise at the end of February to be processed into protective masks， which had remarkable reduction effect on breath resistance. This mask index meets the requirements of N95 in NIOSH Standards （Title 42 CFR Part 84）， Grade 1 in GB19083-2010 and KN95 in GB2626-2019. The resistance index is reduced by 50 percent compared with the conventional products worn by medical staff at the beginning of the pandemic contorl， and the breathing is smoother and more comfortable. In early March， Jofo N95 new materials were fully put into N95 mask enterprises designated by the National Development and Reform Commission， improving the wearing comfortability of doctors and nurses， which gained a lot of favorable comments and opinions.

By upgrading the original equipment as a whole， TEDA Filters corporation developed a high-performance respiratory filter material， which made the mask highly efficient and greatly reduced the respiratory resistance and the burden of heart and lungs. This technology won the first prize of Tianjin Science and Technology Progress Award. At the same time， TEDA also introduced the filter materials for childrens sanitary masks an protective masks， which contributed to reducing the burden on childrens heart and lungs and improving the technical level of childrens protective products.

Before the pandemic， protective clothing enterprises used ethylene oxide sterilization. Because of the long disinfection time （14 days）， it cannot be used in emergency period. For this reason， BW Techtextile corporation used irradiation to shorten the disinfection time， which can complete disinfection in only 2 hours. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology organized to formulate emergency specifications for irradiation sterilization according to BW Techtextile corporations method.

Release pressure on traditional raw materials

Facing the shortage of mask raw materials during the lockdown， Beijing Fashion Holding corporation launched the R&D of new type of masks and relative products. Zhao Hongye， vice president of the company， employed many textile materials experts to strengthen scientific research in many aspects， such as replaceable materials， reusable materials， simple disinfection and washing， etc. Aiming at the materials for the surface and middle layer （film layer） and inner layer of masks， and improving new materialss washability and high temperature resistance， it took only one and a half months to successfully complete the research and development of new mask products through several stages， includes material selection， testing， setting and calibration. The original sample of this mask and the processed sample after 10 times of high-temperature boiling and washing all meet the protection standards， and are completely separated from the materials such as meltblown cloth and spunbonded cloth used in traditional masks. After mass production at the end of March， it is favored by high-quality users who have higher requirements for protection and comfort.

With the serious shortage of meltblown cloth， most of factories had to stop production. In order to solve the problem， Shanghai， Guangdong， Zhejiang and Anhui as well as many places in China developed the nano-film mask that has the advantages of high efficiency filtration and reusability. Since its launch， it is very popular among consumers. On the basis of its own research and development， Yuanchen Technology Co.， Ltd. independently developed nano-membrane， which can replace meltblown cloth as the core material of masks. At present， nano-membrane has been widely sold and applied in Anhui province， and has won unanimous praise from governments at all levels in the province.

In the lead of Zhang Yun， president of Hangzhou Luxian Advanced nonwoven company， their R&D team worked for two weeks， successfully developed the AN99， new core material of masks. The filtration efficiency of this nano spunlaced nonwoven fabric exceeds 95 percent， which can reach KN95 standard. Its production has helped to alleviate the shortage of meltblown cloth and stabilize the high cost of masks.

Increase production capacity by upgrading technogical process

In the beginning stage of the pandemic， increasing production through upgrading technologies had become the emergency mission faced by the industry. On February 6th， 2020， Shanghai Jingfa Company officially received the Notice of Emergency Requisition of Production Capacity issued by Shanghai Information Economy Committee. In order to better promote the improvement of production capacity after the enterprise resumed work， the company accelerated the emergency technological transformation process. The application and approval of this project was completed on February 15th， 2020. On March 9th， the production line of 3.2m mask raw material melt-blown cloth was put into operation. On March 12th， the test machine of 1.6m mask raw material melt-blown cloth production line was put into operation. Through the commissioning of technical renovation project equipment， the daily output of enterprise mask raw material meltblown cloth increased from 6 tons/day to 11 tons/day.

On January 21， 2020， it was notified by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology that Shandong Jofo Company mobilized all employees to produce at full capacity. On January 31， the company received a notice from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology requesting to increase the production of N95 special materials. The company held a special meeting on technical transformation to discuss the production increase plan and increase the production capacity of N95 from 1 ton per day to 3 tons； On February 3rd， the National Development and Reform Commission infromed them to directly dispatch N95 materials， demanding that the daily demand of 1.6 million N95 masks in Hubei frontline be met as soon as possible. The companys technical personnel urgently carried out technical transformation on the screw and electret system of HEPA high-efficiency air filtration material equipment production line again， and on February 6th， the daily production capacity of N95 was increased to 5 tons （which can supply 1.75 million N95 masks for production）.

Jin Xiangyu， professor of Donghua University， give full play to his specialized advantages， and lead relevant technical teams to actively cooperate with enterprises to solve various problems encountered in their production conversion. For example， his team provided Grace group with meltblowing and electret equipment technology to help them produce protective nonwoven materials； in additon， they cooperated with Henan Piaoan group to develop long-term electret technology， applied to various protective nonwovens such as masks and protective pads to achieve high efficiency and low resistance； and with Shanghai Nursing Industry Co.， Ltd. and school-enterprise to tackle the pandemic emergency， and guided the transformation of the production line in just 10 days， so that the production speed of the assembly line reached 400 pieces/minute， and the daily production of medical mask pads reached 500，000 pieces.

From the sky to the sea， science wrote glorious legend

Consistently focusing on developing its real economy， with particular concentration on the manufacturing sector has become the consensus of all countries in the world. Technological innovation of manufacturing industry is the forefront of the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation in the world. As an important means of upgrading manufacturing industry， digitalization is not only the mainstream direction of innovation and development of advanced manufacturing industry in the world， but also the key to giving birth to industrial revolution.

Li Lingshen， vice president of the CNTAC， president of CNITA， suggested that the demand of end consumers in textile industry for personalized， functional and fast fashion products promote the integration of technology and fashion. Personalized customization， flexible production， sharing of manufacturing resources and efficient collaboration of supply chain have given new vitality and consumption preference to textile products. Digital technology has gradually begun to penetrate into R&D， production， marketing， service and other links of the industry. While promoting the overall improvement of total factor productivity in textile industry， consumption is becoming more and more refined， intelligent and efficient. The digitalization transformation of textile industry is conducive to promoting manufacture advantages and intelligent duplicate effect， which is an important way to realize flexible， green and intelligent production.

Science and technology is changing peoples life， also the industry. On the basis of the national medium-and long-term science and technology development plan and the research on the roadmap of key industries of "manufacturing power"， the priority development direction of Chinas textile industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan period mainly focuses on four aspects： new textile fiber materials， green textile processing， advanced textile products， intelligent textile manufacturing and major equipment. We believe， with the issue and implementation of the 14th Five-Year Plan， textile industry will write more legends under the strong support of technologies.

Eight-year Hua Mao No.1 Project

December 3rd， 2020 is a memorable day. On this day， after about 19 hours of lunar exploration， the Change-5 detector successfully completed the automatic sampling of the lunar surface. At 23： 10， the riser took off smoothly with the lunar "local products" and embarked on a return journey. Before completing the sampling task， a "fabric version" Chinese Flag， Five-star Red Flag carried by the lander was successfully spread on the lunar surface. Unlike "Chang e III"， "Chang e IV" and the national flag of Yutu lunar rover， the national flag of "Chang e V" is a real flag. In the history of Chinese space flight， this is the first textile national flag under the harsh environment without temperature control， which was successfully displayed on the moon.

The lunar flag display system was jointly developed by China Space Sanjiang Group and Wuhan textile University， and the national flag was developed and produced by Fan Kaichun， technical director of the national flag display system of China Space Sanjiang Group， and Professor Xu Weilin， State Key Laboratory of Textile New Materials and Advanced Processing Technology of Wuhan Textile University for eight years. Hua Mao Group participated in the development and production as well. Due to the strong electromagnetic radiation on the lunar surface and the harsh environment， the temperature difference can reach plus or minus 150 degrees Celsius， which determines that the ordinary Five-star Red Flag cannot be used on the moon. With more than 60 years of production experience and strict quality control technology， Hua Mao Group has provided nearly "harsh" quality assurance and ensured the aerospace quality of the national flag. In order to meet the requirements of special environments such as high and low temperature alternation， vacuum and strong ultraviolet radiation， the whole team overcame many difficulties in materials， production and processing. Through physical tests such as heat matching， high and low temperature resistance， anti-static， anti-lunar dust and so on， two kinds of domestic high-performance fiber materials are finally selected， which can meet the strength requirements and dyeing performance requirements， thus ensuring that the performance of the Five-star Red Flag can be stable under the extreme environment of the moon and long-term conditions， so that it will not fade or deform.

In the one-stop manufacturing process of producing fiber， fabric， dying and sewing， Hua Mao people rely on strict quality control technology to meet the harsh quality requirements， and adopt special production technology to overcome the difficulties in spinning production. In view of the low dyeing rate of fibers， they invented the process method to adapt to high and low temperature dyeing， solved the technical problems such as brightness， viscosity and sewing smoothness， and ensured the aerospace quality of the national flag.

From manufacturing to “intelligent” manufacturing

At present， the application standard system of intelligent manufacturing in textile industry has been initially established； Significant achievements have been made in the construction of digital and intelligent factories （workshops）， and the penetration rate has been greatly improved； Significant breakthroughs have been made in the common key technologies and equipment of intelligent manufacturing in the industry； The integration of new generation Internet， big data， artificial intelligence technology and textile industry has been further deepened. All these changes show that science and technology are silently changing the industry， and the improvement of textile intelligence has effectively helped textile enterprises solve a series of problems such as excessive employment， low production efficiency and unstable product quality， which has become an inevitable topic for the future development of enterprises.

On December 13th， Jiangsu Dasheng groups meeting of 100 thousand spindles smart spinning factory project held in Nantong. In the meeting， experts unanimously passed the project scheme， viewing that it conforms to the development goal of Chinas textile industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan and relevant national industrial policies. The construction goal of the project is clear and the implementation scheme is feasible. The implementation of the project will not only lay a solid foundation for the high-quality development of Dasheng Group， but also help to inherit the entrepreneurial spirit of Mr. Zhang Jian and fulfill the historical mission of Dasheng group.

By taking digital intelligent spinning technologies， the whole process of intelligent spinning production line realized operation digitalization， manufacturing digitalization and equipment coordination， which basically could realize the night shift unattended. The market positioning of the project products is accurate， which conforms to the sustainable development trend and green consumption demand. The products have high technical content， large market capacity， high added value and market competitive advantage， and are expected to have remarkable economic and social benefits； After the completion of the project， it can play a leading role in the transformation and upgrading of the industrial chain and the intelligent development of the textile industry； Dasheng Group has the advantages for project implementation， proper site selection， appropriate construction scale， reasonable capital arrangement and clear payback period. In view of the overall acceleration of intelligence in Chinas cotton spinning industry， participating expert groups suggested organizing the project implementation as soon as possible.

Advanced textiles have to be improved

Advanced textiles are one of the priority development directions of Chinas textile industry during the“14th Five-Year Plan” period， focusing on the development of refined processing and production systems in the whole industrial chain such as textiles， printing and dyeing， sewing. The new plan calls for developing functional textiles， advanced design and printing and dyeing technologies； overcoming the intelligent textile design and processing technology and establish an intelligent textile performance testing and evaluation system. The development is focused on high-end medical and health protection textiles， industrial textiles such as geotechnical construction， emergency rescue， marine engineering and industrial filtration， and strategic new materials textiles such as textile-based reinforced composite materials， high-performance fiber-based complex profiles and carbon fiber prepreg. Major breakthroughs are to be achieved in high-quality textile consumer goods， functional textile consumer goods， personal protective medical textiles， intelligent textiles， industrial textiles and strategic new materials textiles at the end of the "14th Five-Year Plan"， so as to meet the escalating consumer demand of residents and basically meet the needs of the downstream application market.

In this respect， the industry has also made some useful explorations. For example， "sponge city construction and engineering application of new materials for ecological management" is an right example. Today， with the comprehensive construction of sponge city， geosynthetics， as an important component of low-impact development facilities， are showing irreplaceable functions. In order to make rainwater "naturally accumulate， permeate and purify" more effectively， synthetics technology should be further studied from the aspects of integration， high efficiency and economy.

In addition， various forms of flexible soil and water conservation ecosystems can be formed by combining honeycomb cells， three-dimensional anti-erosion ecological protective blankets， gabion cages and pads， impact-resistant biological blankets with geotextiles， nutritional geotextiles and ecological bags. This synthetic material of civil engineering has the characteristics of light weight， high strength， flexibility， water permeability， air permeability， convenient construction， etc. It can play a variety of functions such as isolation， filtration， drainage， seepage prevention， reinforcement， protection. It can make the protective material interact with the protected soil， which can not only achieve the expected engineering design effect， but also reduce the environmental impact and promote the restoration of the damaged environment.

Besides new materials used in sponge city， threedimensional fabrics and molding technology for textile composites have also been applied in many aspects. In general， three-dimensional fabrics mainly have three fundamental structural forms such as three-dimensional structure， 2.5D structure and three-dimensional multidirectional structure， which are applied in advanced composite material. This technology can realize the integral forming of complex surface， which not only has the characteristics of one-step forming， high strength of curved surface connection and vibration resistance， but also has the advantages of strong designability and functional processing. In the future， the development of three-dimensional fabrics for composite materials will be reflected in the following aspects： lightweight structural fabrics， multi-structure coupling fabrics， automation equipment and so on； three-dimensional fabrics will more rely on the unit structure of fabric to realize its multiple functional characteristics. And three-dimensional fabrics will also be turned out in a quick and low-cost production by structure- technology- coupling design.

Chinas science still has long way to go

Technological development has driven the progress of the whole industry， and enhanced the overall science strength as well. However， we have to admit that there are still some key technologies to be solved and broken. For example， after the outbreak of the pandemic， ECMO appeared frequently in first aid scenes. ECMO is the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapeutic instrument， commonly known as "artificial lung". ECMO is the core support means for severe cardiopulmonary failure at present， and is praised as the "last lifeline" for severe patients in COVID-19.

Because of relying on imports， there are only 400 ECMO machines across the country when the pandemic is coming. Among the consumables used in equipment， the most expensive material is membrane lung， that is， membrane lung material-PMP hollow fiber membrane. However， we have not been able to finish these materials now， and we still need to constantly innovate and overcome relevant difficulties.

Although the goal of becoming a textile power has been initially achieved in 2020， there is still a certain gap to the goal of leading textile science and technology. To achieve this goal， we need to carry forward the craftsman spirit， and do not forget original mind.

Scientific and technological progress is changing the pandemic situation， our life and the industry. In the future， the engine function of the primary productivity of science and technology will appear more obvious. We are experiencing this change， and we are pushing and accelerating it with our own actions and efforts.

2021 is coming， and the pace of technology changing the industry is still going on. Let us open our arms to embrace the upcoming changes...