It’s okay to stab or scratch with a knife
“Iron Shirt” is a famous body-protecting hard Qigong in Chinese Kung Fu. It is said that those who have mastered this skill can not only withstand punches and kicks without being hurt, but even swords and guns cannot hurt them. The cloth woven by the “three-dimensional textile machine” developed by Gong Xiaozhou, a 35-year-old female doctor from the School of Textiles of Wuhan Textile University and her team has this “magic effect.” “Comparing it with steel, the three-dimensional textiles woven are 3/4 lighter than steel, but 6-7 times stronger than steel. The cloth woven from light carbon fiber is even lighter than cotton!” Gong Xiaozhou said.
Why is this cloth so hard?
Lin Fusheng, another leader of the team and a professor at the School of Mechanical Engineering of the school, explained that the raw materials used for this piece of fabric are glass fiber, quartz fiber, and carbon fiber, and are woven by taking the strengths of all fiber materials. 6-7 times harder than steel is calculated based on the density and properties of these materials. “Teacher Gong studied for her master’s degree and doctorate at the University of Manchester in the UK. Her tutor is a world-leading master in three-dimensional textile weaving technology. This master once conducted an experiment with the same three-dimensional textile cloth and shot it with a pistol from 10 meters away. , the cloth was not shot through and did not deform. Later, these processes were used in British body armor and various police equipment.”
It took 9 years to develop a three-dimensional textile machine
It is not easy to develop a loom that can weave “iron cloth shirts”. The first prototype was developed in 2006, but the fabric weaved was no different from ordinary fabric. In 2011, Professor Lin Fusheng spent three years and finally developed the first three-dimensional loom prototype, but this machine, which imitated a traditional loom, could not weave cloth.
“The whole machine is scrapped and we can set it up again for exploration.” After discussing with Gong Xiaozhou, Lin Fusheng made this decision that surprised everyone. Three years of hard work were all in vain, and everything started from scratch.
Gong Xiaozhou went south to Jiangsu for research, bought three small prototypes from a factory in Jiangsu, and assembled and improved them himself. This stubborn female doctor spends most of her time in the laboratory. Weekends and winter and summer vacations are prime time for her to do scientific research. She usually works as a class tutor in the college and has many things to do with students. During the holidays, she can concentrate on her research projects. In the past three years, the core members of the team have spent New Year’s Eve in the laboratory.
Before the scientific research results were released, the team received very little funding. The research expenses for the past nine years have been funded by the teachers themselves, and have now cost millions. In order to save project funds, Professor Lin Fusheng, Dr. Gong Xiaozhou and their colleagues tried every means to use local materials.
The prototype requires a set of “warp separation” equipment, which is to comb and separate the fiber meridians. The normal procedure is to open the mold, but once the mold is opened, it costs thousands of dollars. In order to save money, everyone came up with a “homemade method”: Hanzheng Street wholesaled a box of wooden combs for less than 1 yuan each, so the problem was solved for a few dozen yuan; to solve the threading problem of the machine, but purchasing aThe stringing equipment cost RMB 10,000 to 20,000, so the team members thought of recycling. They removed the cores of the waste wires and used the insulating sheaths of the wires as threading equipment, solving a big problem without spending a penny. “In the past few years, our overall R&D expenditure has been saved by 500,000 to 600,000 yuan.”
Signed achievement conversion intention
Li Yu, another leader of the team and deputy director of the Science and Technology Department of Wuhan Textile University, said that three-dimensional weaving technology has always been an international problem. Foreign countries have made breakthroughs in recent years, but the technology and equipment are blocked in my country. The technology of this project led by Teacher Gong not only fills the domestic gap, but this loom is the world’s first fully automatic three-dimensional wide and thick fabric weaving equipment. It currently has 6 Chinese invention patents and 11 utility model patents.
Li Yu said that the equipment that has been developed so far can weave more than 10 types of three-dimensional glass fiber fabrics with different structures, which can meet the different needs of aerospace, military, automotive and other industries. It can be used to manufacture wings, cockpits, armor, body armor, and explosion-proof fabrics. Equipment, assault boats, ship hulls, decks, chassis, door panels, etc.
Will such fabrics be widely used by civilians in the future?
Li Yu said that the current promotion of civilian technology is mainly in luggage. “Luggages made of three-dimensional textiles have very high stretch and strength. I have seen many customers using them in the European and American markets, but the price is a bit expensive. I saw a box like this in Europe costing 799 euros.”
At present, the project has signed an intention to transform its results with a listed company in Hubei Province and will soon be put into production.
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