On August 31, the signing ceremony of the aerospace nanomaterial joint lab was held in Suzhou. Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (SINANO) and Airbus Beijing Engineering Center will start the cooperation to construct the joint lab. President of Airbus Beijing Engineering Center CHENG Long, President of Nanjing branch YANG Guishan, Vice Director of Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute HU Yidong, SINANO Director YANG Hui, and Vice Director CHEN Guang attended the ceremony.

Advanced materials are significant to improve the performance and reduce the costs of aircrafts. Compared to traditional metal materials, carbon fiber composites possess many advantages such as low density, high strength and excellent designability, which have therefore become the basic materials for modern aircrafts.

SINANO’s research focuses on nanotechnology related to information, energy, environment and life sciences since its foundation in 2006. As for advanced nanomaterials, SINANO researchers have successfully fabricated carbon nanofibers and memberanes, the performance and productivity levels of which are world-leading. Furthermore, researchers have widely explored their applications in strengthening and toughening of composite materials, ice removing, online monitoring, etc.

The establishment of the joint laboratory will further promote the R&D level of the advanced carbon nanomaterials to the needs of the aviation field, and lay the foundation for further cooperation between the two sides.