The Low-Altitude Economy

Brings a New Growth Horizon for Carbon Fiber

(1) Carbon Fiber Composites: The Key Material for Achieving Lightweight Aerospace Vehicles
Carbon fiber is a fiber material with over 90% carbon content, featuring numerous properties such as low density, high specific strength, and high modulus. Its tensile strength can exceed steel, aluminum alloy, and titanium alloy by more than 9 times at the same weight, while its elastic modulus can be more than 4 times that of steel, aluminum alloy, and titanium alloy. These advantages make carbon fiber an ideal choice for achieving lightweight in aerospace vehicles. By applying carbon fiber composite materials to the construction of aircraft body structures and internal components, the aircraft’s weight can be significantly reduced, energy consumption minimized, and structural strength and safety enhanced. Using carbon fiber composites in the construction of eVTOLs can help reduce the overall weight of the aircraft by 30%-40%.

Long Carbon Fiber Composites in the UAV Field

Long carbon fiber composite materials are increasingly being applied in the UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) field, playing a crucial role in enhancing UAV performance, extending flight time, and improving durability and reliability.

Here are the main applications and advantages of long carbon fiber composites in the UAV sector:

1. Enhancing Strength and Stiffness of UAV Structures
Long carbon fiber composites have extremely high specific strength and specific stiffness, enabling them to bear heavy loads while remaining lightweight. By using long carbon fiber composites in UAV structures such as the fuselage, wings, propellers, and landing gear, the strength and stiffness of the UAV can be significantly improved, ensuring it can withstand complex flight environments and high-speed operations.

2. Reducing Weight and Extending Flight Time
Weight is a key factor that affects the flight time of UAVs. Long carbon fiber composites are extremely lightweight yet offer excellent strength, which helps reduce the overall weight of the UAV. This, in turn, improves battery efficiency and extends flight time. Lightweight design is especially important in small UAVs and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

3. Improving Impact Resistance and Durability
The high toughness of long carbon fiber composites allows UAVs to maintain excellent impact resistance and durability when encountering collisions or extreme weather conditions. Particularly in the outer shells and critical structural components of UAVs, carbon fiber composites effectively prevent structural damage, reducing maintenance costs.

4. Corrosion Resistance and Environmental Adaptability
Carbon fiber composites have exceptional corrosion resistance, making them ideal for UAVs used in harsh environments such as high humidity or saltwater exposure. This makes long carbon fiber composites a great choice for applications in marine monitoring, agricultural spraying, and other missions requiring strong environmental resilience.

5. Electromagnetic Shielding Performance
Long carbon fiber composites possess certain electromagnetic shielding properties, which help reduce interference from external electromagnetic sources on the UAV's internal electronic systems. This is crucial for the stable flight of UAVs in complex environments, particularly for data transmission and communication systems.

6. Improving Safety
Due to the excellent fatigue resistance and aging resistance of carbon fiber composites, they effectively extend the lifespan of UAVs, reducing the risk of failure due to material degradation. This contributes to improved flight safety.


Application Examples:
Small Consumer UAVs: Many high-end consumer UAVs, such as certain models from DJI, have begun using carbon fiber composites in their body structures, particularly in wings and support frames, to enhance flight performance and durability.

Military UAVs: Military UAVs, which require high durability, strength, and stealth capabilities, widely use long carbon fiber composites. These materials not only reduce weight but also enhance structural strength and stealth features.

Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) Aircraft: eVTOLs have extremely high requirements for weight reduction. Long carbon fiber composites are ideal structural materials for eVTOLs. By using these materials, eVTOLs can achieve lightweight designs while ensuring sufficient strength and stiffness, thereby improving range and flight efficiency.