Dr. Xu Qingzhou and his dozen or so students gathered around Gao Yuan, each dragging over a chair and sitting down to form a small circle.
Gao Yuan swept his gaze over the crowd and said with a smile, "At present, there are five major development paths in the global heating fiber field."
"First, there are far-infrared fibers. By incorporating alumina, magnesium oxide, zirconia, titanium dioxide, silica, and similar materials into the fiber, they improve the absorption of external infrared rays from sunlight and other sources, thereby storing heat and providing insulation. Simply put, they absorb heat from nature."
"In this field, our Japanese counterparts hold an absolute lead. Japan's Kanebo Synthetic Fiber has Ceramino technology, Komatsu Seiren has DynaLive, Fujibo has INSERARED, and Kuraray has LONWAVE. They have already claimed nearly all of the global market share."
"Second, there are near-infrared fibers. Their principle is likewise to absorb natural light and heat, and Japanese companies are also dominant here: Unichika's Thermotron, Mitsubishi Rayon's Thermocatch, and Toray's Torayheat."
"Because all three major near-infrared fibers begin with the letter T, they are also known as 3T. Any product on the market marketed as far-infrared or near-infrared, whether it is a Chinese brand or a French brand, ultimately contains Japanese fiber when it reaches consumers."
As Gao Yuan said this, a wave of sighs rose from the room.
Ordinary people only knew common synthetic fiber products like acrylic and spandex. Yes, China could manufacture those ordinary synthetic fibers, and in enormous quantities at that.
But the products at the top of the pyramid—the most profitable and technologically advanced ones—belonged to Europe, America, Japan, and Korea. Their sheer number and exceptional quality were enough to make the domestic chemical fiber students despair.
"The third is electric heating. It generates heat through conductive fibers and built-in energy sources. The ceiling for this technology is very high, and in the future, it may be able to withstand ultra-low temperatures around minus one hundred degrees Celsius."
"Unfortunately, there is a prerequisite technology that has yet to be unlocked: large-scale graphene production. Electric heating without graphene is simply too inefficient, so it is not within our scope of consideration."
The students all nodded in agreement.
If large-scale graphene production truly became possible, it would solve far more than just the problem of heating fibers. Most of the current problems in materials science could be resolved in one stroke!
That was the formidable power of foundational disciplines!
Once a piece of fundamental research was achieved, the whole world would benefit!
"The fourth is phase-change temperature regulation technology." Gao Yuan spoke quickly as he continued, "It utilizes the principle that substances absorb or release heat when their phase changes. It absorbs heat when the ambient temperature is high, then releases heat when the ambient temperature is low."
"This technology is both difficult and costly. At present, only one company is ahead: the Outlast fiber registered and produced in North America by Germany's Oetotherm Group. I have studied it carefully. The phase-change temperature regulation route should be a dead end. It is enough for everyone to know about it; do not pay too much attention to it."
"Now for the key point: the fifth major technological route in heating fibers, moisture-absorbing heat-generating fiber technology. It is the technology closest to nature. For example, the well-known wool fiber is a typical moisture-absorbing, heat-generating material. When wool encounters moisture, the fiber molecules attract and bond with water molecules. The kinetic energy of the water molecules rapidly decreases, converting into heat energy that is released."
"Every winter, we all like wearing sweaters because they feel warmer. Why is that?"
"Because wool fibers absorb moisture and generate heat. They can remarkably absorb moisture from the body and convert it into heat energy."
"However, unfortunately, Japanese companies still lead the field of moisture-absorbing heat-generating fibers. Toyobo's eks fiber, under conditions of twenty degrees Celsius and sixty-five percent relative humidity, can absorb moisture at 3.5 times the rate of pure cotton, while its heat absorption and release are a full two times that of wool!"
"Besides eks fiber, Toyobo also has the more advanced N38 product line. Toray's Softwarm fiber and Warmsensor fiber, Asahi Kasei's Thermogear fiber, and Mitsubishi Chemical's Renaissα fiber are all among the world's best."
Holy crap!
Why were the Japanese everywhere!?
That was everyone's biggest takeaway after hearing Gao Yuan's explanation.
Setting aside the route whose prerequisite technology had not been unlocked, as well as the two routes considered to have limited development potential, the remaining three major technological paths would all run into powerful Japanese competitors no matter which direction they chose.
And these Japanese competitors were not just one or two companies. There were groups upon groups of them, piles upon piles of them—far too many to count.
There was no way around it. Just as North American DuPont Group could not be avoided in the quick-drying fiber field, Japanese conglomerates were impossible to avoid in the self-heating fiber field. They had long since formed a de facto monopoly in this area.
"As the old saying goes, good steel must be used on the blade. Even though X Fiber is highly adaptable and has enormous potential, we cannot blindly pursue being comprehensive in every aspect." Gao Yuan spoke with deep feeling. "Would it be good to make X2 Fiber possess far-infrared heating, near-infrared heating, phase-change temperature regulation, and moisture-absorbing heat generation all at once?"
"Of course that would be great, but we have to be careful not to bite off more than we can chew."
In truth, Gao Yuan was saying those words to himself.
Some time ago, when the system activated Mission 3, it had also supplemented his knowledge.
Armed with the knowledge provided by the system, Gao Yuan began planning a super versatile thermal insulation fiber. Yet as the days passed, he was never able to succeed.
Now Gao Yuan finally understood that even with a system in his head, he could not do whatever he pleased. He still had to eat one bite at a time.
Today's meeting was meant to determine the final technical route. From now on, they would concentrate all their energy and attack the single most crucial point. They could no longer pursue being all-encompassing.
Scratch, scratch, scratch—
Gao Yuan wrote the English abbreviation CLO on the blackboard. It stood for the clo value.
The clo value was an internationally recognized standard. Simply put, the higher the clo value, the better the thermal insulation performance.
For example, cotton had a clo value of 0.4, Merino wool had 0.84, down with a fill power of 500 could reach 1.7, while top-grade down products with a fill power of 850 could achieve an astonishing clo value of 2.53!
Gao Yuan's pen did not stop. Before long, an entire blackboard was filled with material characteristics and projected routes for chemical fiber manufacturing processes.
"It is very simple. Our target is one fiber in two forms." Gao Yuan said solemnly, "In terms of chemical composition, we must give X2 Fiber moisture-absorbing heat-generating properties. In terms of processing, we must improve the super honeycomb structure, transforming the originally straight fiber filament into fluffy fiber fluff."
"In the end, we will use X2 Fiber filament to fight the Japanese chemical fiber conglomerates formed by Toray, Asahi Kasei, Mitsubishi Chemical, Toyobo, and the rest."
"And we will use X2 Fiber fluff to transform the entire apparel industry ecosystem! To replace expensive duck down and goose down!"
The moment Gao Yuan finished speaking, everyone burst into applause.
For researchers, what they feared most was often not hardship, but an unclear overall direction. They feared outsiders directing experts, only to waste everyone's effort and keep them busy for nothing in the end.
Gao Yuan had indeed taken a slight detour before. After gaining the system, his confidence had swelled, and he had blindly pursued high-end, all-encompassing goals.
Fortunately, he corrected himself once he recognized his mistake. After realizing that things were going wrong, he promptly returned to the right direction.
No matter how many research routes there were for heating fibers, Gao Yuan only needed the moisture-absorbing heat-generating route.
As for X2 Fiber fluff, it was merely a process improvement.
As everyone knew, the greatest highlight of X1 Fiber was its super honeycomb structure.
As long as they excessively expanded it on that basis, causing the super honeycomb structure to burst open like popcorn, they would obtain separated fiber fluff.
Fiber fluff naturally could not be used to make fabric. That stuff would scatter with a gust of wind. But it could be stuffed between fabrics as an interlining, or spun again into fuzzy yarn, which could then be used to knit fleece garments or sweaters.
In short, materials science was the cornerstone of all industry.
Once the problems of basic materials were solved, there would be far too many things they could do.
Mm, it had already passed fifty thousand words. It felt like things were finally getting into rhythm.
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