On August 27, Shenma Industrial Co., Ltd. announced the successful development of 11 denier ultra-high-strength nylon 66 industrial yarn. The project also passed the mid-term acceptance by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in mid-July, marking China as one of the few countries in the world to master the core material technology for aircraft tires. This major technological breakthrough not only fills a domestic gap but also breaks the long-term monopoly of international giants on aircraft tire carcass materials, providing strategic security for the supply chain of China's aviation industry.

Currently, this technology has been successfully applied to aircraft tires of important special domestic models, and the company is expected to have mass production capacity by the end of this year.

Aircraft tires, as the "lifeline" of airplanes, need to withstand ultra-high loads, strong impacts, and extreme speed changes during takeoff and landing. Their performance is directly related to flight safety. For a long time, China's large civil aviation aircraft tires have been entirely dependent on imports, and the production technology of their core carcass materials—ultra-high-strength nylon 66 industrial yarn and tire cord fabric—has been Asahi Kasei and other foreign companies such as KOSA tightly controlled and strictly blocked China.

To overcome the "bottleneck" technology in aircraft tire materials, in March 2024, Shenma Co., Ltd. jointly launched the national "14th Five-Year" key R&D project—"Key Technologies for Preparation and Application of Special Polyamides" with Beijing University of Chemical Technology, the Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and 10 other well-known domestic universities and research institutions.

The project R&D team took only 7 months to break through the 10.8 denier high-strength yarn preparation technology by October 2024, achieving application in aircraft tires for important special models. In August this year, the team successfully developed 11 denier ultra-high-strength industrial yarn, with technical indicators reaching international advanced levels, meeting the needs of all models from light aircraft to super-large passenger planes. This technological leap not only enabled China's aircraft tire materials to achieve a leap from "usable" to "full-spectrum applicable" but also completely broke the product monopoly of international giants, demonstrating China's strong innovation capability in the new materials field.

Notably, the company owns independent intellectual property rights for the entire industry chain from key raw materials to finished ultra-high-strength carcass materials, possessing aircraft tire-use nylon 66 industrial yarn 100% domestically produced supply capability, making China one of the few countries globally to master the full-process production chain of ultra-high-strength nylon 66 carcass materials, fundamentally ensuring the security of the aviation industry's supply chain.

"From breaking through the 'bottleneck' in key raw materials to full industry chain independent control, it not only promotes the company to join the world-class ranks but also allows Chinese aviation materials to 'soar' globally," said Wang Bing, the company's general manager.

Besides the aviation field, ultra-high-strength industrial yarn can also be widely used in ship cables, high-speed rail air springs, mining conveyor belts, and other fields, with a clear market prospect. It is reported that the company has set its R&D target on the international technology gap area—higher strength nylon 66 industrial yarn. This layout will promote the technological iteration and upgrade of China's tire manufacturing, aviation equipment, and other industrial chains, achieving a leap from "following" to "running alongside" and then to "leading," thereby reshaping the global competitive landscape of the high-performance materials industry.