New Materials+New Technology Textiles Not Only Belong To Clothing But Also Help The Aerospace Field

On February 22, the Long March 8 Yao-3 carrier rocket arrived at Wenchang Space Launch Site, China, and will be used to launch the Queqiao 2 relay star of the fourth phase of the lunar exploration project. At present, the rocket has carried out various final assembly tests in the launch site. Previously, in January and early February this year, the Chang'e-6 mission probe and Queqiao 2 satellite had arrived at the launch site early, and preparations for various tests before launch were under way.

According to the plan, China will launch Queqiao 2 and Chang'e 6 in the first half of this year. Chang'e-6 is to launch a probe to the back of the moon to collect lunar soil, and then bring it back to the earth for research. What's the function of Queqiao No. 2? Because there is no direct communication between the back of the moon and the earth, it is necessary to launch Queqiao 2, a relay satellite, which can build a "Queqiao Bridge" for the signal communication between the Chang'e-6 probe and the ground station that will sample on the back of the moon in the future.

　　 Magpie Bridge "Golden Umbrella" Soft Spaceborne Antenna Metal Mesh

Before Queqiao 2, in fact, more than five years ago, there was a Queqiao relay satellite that provided communication relay services for Chang'e-4's lunar landing and exploration mission. The outstanding feature of Magpie Bridge is that it has such a "golden umbrella", which is called a large deployable antenna on the satellite. Through this "golden umbrella", the communication between the earth and the back of the moon is realized. In the laboratory of Donghua University in Shanghai, there is a scale sample of the umbrella antenna of the Queqiao relay satellite. This golden umbrella is actually made of metal.

In the laboratory of the Textile College of Donghua University, the reporter saw this "umbrella" with a thin yellow metal mesh on the umbrella bone. Experts said that the metal mesh is the key part of the space borne deployable antenna to reflect electromagnetic waves. It can be deployed during the launch into orbit. The key to its expansion of the reflector is the warp knitting technology.

Chen Nanliang, Professor of Donghua University, Director of the Industrial Textile Engineering Research Center of the Ministry of Education: When the rocket is launched, it is shrunk inside the rocket. After reaching the orbit, it slowly unfolds the satellite reflector into a mesh antenna through the deployment mechanism, so we call it deployable antenna. It is flexible, so it can be unfolded, so we need to form such a cloth surface through weaving technology.

The metal mesh on the satellite deployable antenna is made of metal molybdenum wire. In order to increase its performance, experts have done more plating treatment and processing on the extremely thin molybdenum wire.

Chen Nanliang, Professor of Donghua University, Director of the Industrial Textile Engineering Research Center of the Ministry of Education: The raw material we use is called gold plated molybdenum wire, which is based on the molybdenum wire and plated with gold, because the reflectivity of gold is very good.

Reporter: The metal wire is very thin when it is unfolded. Is there any special process to weave it so evenly?

Chen Nanliang, Professor of Donghua University, Director of the Industrial Textile Engineering Research Center of the Ministry of Education: These are some of our key technologies. First, the molybdenum wire is very thin, about 15 to 30 microns, less than a quarter of the diameter of the hair. Therefore, drawing itself is very difficult, and the surface is also gilded. After gold plating, it is necessary to maintain a certain fastness. We doped some organic elements to improve the toughness of the metal raw materials on the one hand, and also make its surface have a better affinity. Therefore, the improvement of some processes makes the gold plated molybdenum wire very strong in the knitting process.

Chen Nanliang, Professor of Donghua University, Director of the Industrial Textile Engineering Research Center of the Ministry of Education: The knitting process is relatively delicate and complex. First, we need to carry out the parallel. Because it is too thin, we invented a parallel twisting technology. The three wires are together, and the structure is very stable.

　　 Innovative weaving technology makes satellite antenna metal mesh larger and lighter

Experts told reporters that the metal molybdenum wire is very soft, and the single molybdenum wire is too thin and not strong enough, so three or four molybdenum wires are usually used together to weave the metal mesh. But now, with the trend of large-scale satellites, the antenna reflector is becoming larger and larger, which is conducive to the communication between heaven and earth. But the larger the area, the heavier the weight. How can the antenna be big and light? The research team innovated the weaving technology, and now it can use a single strand of molybdenum wire to weave a larger and lighter metal mesh, the largest one is almost as big as a basketball court.

Since 2017, Donghua University's innovative team of industrial textile flexible structural materials has begun to tackle the key issues of metal molybdenum monofilament warp knitting technology. After five years of efforts, we have innovatively developed the "micro tension" warp knitting technology and equipment, which has greatly reduced the weight of the new antenna reflector.

Jiang Jinhua, professor of the Textile College of Donghua University: Compared with the original, it may be 1/3 or 1/4 lighter, and its cost may be lower, and its weight is also very low. Therefore, the lightest net may weigh less than 20 grams per square meter.

　　 The antenna of Landsat 4 01 is close to the size of the basketball court

The reflective surface of Landsat 4-01, launched in August 2023, is woven with extremely fine molybdenum wire monofilament. The expanded area of its large annular antenna is close to the area of a basketball court, greatly improving the reflective surface area and communication capability of the deployable antenna of high orbit satellites.

Jiang Jinhua, professor of the Textile College of Donghua University: Because the antenna may become larger and larger in the future, which may reach the level of 100 meters or kilometers, the monofilament grid structure is required to meet the application of super large satellite antenna. Now the communication is more and more frequent, and the data flux is required to be larger and larger. If the aperture is too small, it can not meet the requirements of frequent high-throughput data transmission. Now we are not only making molybdenum wire, but also making other raw materials, and also making some trial applications.

　　 "Tennis racket" woven from the "wings" of Tianzhou

On January 17, the Tianzhou VII cargo spaceship sent a batch of living materials and experimental equipment to the space station. It turned out that the solar wing base plate of the Tianzhou cargo spaceship was also woven. Its fiberglass mesh structure looks like a tennis racket.

　　 Glass fiber mesh structure is lightweight and anti-oxidation

It is reported that the Tianzhou cargo spaceship uses a semi-rigid solar wing. The frame of the solar wing is carbon fiber, and the middle is a mesh surface composed of glass fiber mesh, similar to a tennis racket. The solar cell is hooked on the glass fiber mesh. This glass fiber network structure has the characteristics of lightweight, and has stronger protection against atomic oxygen and plasma in low orbit space environment.

Chen Nanliang, Professor of Donghua University, Director of the Industrial Textile Engineering Research Center of the Ministry of Education: There is a large amount of atomic oxygen in the space, and the oxidation capacity is very strong, so the general organic polymer materials are oxidized very severely, so to choose a material with very high antioxidant capacity, we choose the inorganic material glass fiber.

Glass fiber has the advantages of oxidation resistance and light weight. But it is very difficult to weave a net with glass fiber.

Chen Nanliang, a professor of Donghua University and director of the Industrial Textile Engineering Research Center of the Ministry of Education, said that glass fiber also has a very big weakness. Its weaving performance is very poor, because it is very fragile. Textile materials are closely related to the fineness of fiber. The finer the fiber, the stronger the softness. After doubling and twisting, it becomes a very thick raw material, which can be achieved by weaving.

Chen Nanliang, Professor of Donghua University, Director of the Industrial Textile Engineering Research Center of the Ministry of Education: It has another advantage, it is light, it is mesh, and the solar cell is hooked on it.

　　 Glass fiber coated with resin is more resistant to space environment

After the glass fiber is woven into the substrate of the solar panel, it will also be coated with resin to improve its performance.

Jiang Jinhua, professor of the Textile College of Donghua University, said that resin coating is mainly to make the surface smoother, and also to protect it. Because such resins as organosilicon have better resistance to space environment, and its stability and abrasion resistance can also be improved, which can greatly improve the overall performance.

　　 The "textile" you don't know can do this

The application of new materials and new knitting technology make the word "textile" not limited to the concept of clothing. The "satellite antenna metal network" just mentioned has been applied to Queqiao relay satellite, Beidou navigation satellite, mobile communication satellite and other satellites. Textile is not only widely used in aerospace, but also in large aircraft manufacturing and even in biological applications.

Chen Nanliang, Professor of Donghua University, Director of the Industrial Textile Engineering Research Center of the Ministry of Education: Textile is a kind of material, which may be a special material, such as aerospace. In the aerospace field, such as deployable antenna, it needs to be large. Steel is hard material, so it can't be made so big, and it can't be carried. So we need a soft thing to fold, and then to use the scene unfolded, only textiles can be made of this soft thing.

　　 Communication barrier free mobile phone connected to satellite

Chen Nanliang, Professor of Donghua University, Director of the Industrial Textile Engineering Research Center of the Ministry of Education: Large deployable antennas are mainly used to enhance the communication between high-performance satellites and ground data. They are mainly used in some communication satellites, navigation satellites, and also useful in Beidou. In communication, there are Tiantong satellites and reflector antennas. The satellite can communicate with our mobile phone, and this antenna plays a very decisive role.

　　 Biological organ vascular patch

Chen Nanliang, Professor of Donghua University, Director of the Industrial Textile Engineering Research Center of the Ministry of Education: There are many application fields of textile that can be expanded, such as the biomedical field. Organs, blood vessels and patches of the human body are closely related to textile technology and textile products.

　　 Large aircraft made of carbon fiber fabric

Chen Nanliang, Professor of Donghua University, Director of the Industrial Textile Engineering Research Center of the Ministry of Education: Now C919 has been used in our country's carbon fiber fabric, and the consumption of C929 will be greater. There are also many aerospace fields, and this rigid material made of carbon fiber has become very common. The application of flexible textile materials has just begun, so we talk about textile technology also has a very big prospect.

(Source: CCTV News Client)