China Economic Weekly – Economy Net news: Recently, the concepts of ballistic materials and ballistic vests have drawn attention at home and abroad. Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fiber, currently the best-performing material for making ballistic vests in the world, is widely used in military equipment, sports gear and many other fields. XINGI TECH Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “XINGI TECH”) is currently the largest UHMWPE fiber producer in China, and the quality of its ballistic products has reached or leads international levels.
Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Becomes the Preferred High-Performance Fiber for Ballistic Equipment
It is understood that among nearly 200 countries and regions worldwide, only three manufacturing countries can independently complete the full process from research and development of ballistic vest raw materials to production, namely the United States, China and the Netherlands. At present, China’s ballistic vest material technology continues to advance, and the country has become the world’s largest producer of ballistic vests. Chinese ballistic vests have a broad sales market, from the Middle East and South America to Europe and the United States, and now account for 70 percent of the global ballistic vest market.
The modern office area of Jiangsu Jiujiujiu Technology Co., Ltd.
According to the company, Chinese ballistic vests are mainly made from PE material, namely ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene. Such material provides good protection at relatively low cost, and mainstream ballistic equipment such as ballistic vests and ballistic plates is now made from PE fiber material.
UHMWPE fiber has the highest specific strength and specific modulus of any fiber in the world today. It offers many outstanding properties, including ultra-high strength, ultra-high modulus, low density, wear resistance, low-temperature resistance, ultraviolet resistance, shielding performance, good flexibility, high impact energy absorption, and resistance to strong acids, strong bases and chemical corrosion, and is widely used in military equipment, the marine industry, safety protection, sports gear and other fields.
In addition, UHMWPE fiber has a higher elongation at break than carbon fiber and aramid fiber, good flexibility and good mechanical properties at high strain rates and low temperatures, and better impact resistance than carbon fiber and aramid, making it an ideal ballistic- and stab-resistant material. In the defense field, UHMWPE fiber can be made into ballistic vests, ballistic helmets and other protective materials, such as armor protection plates for helicopters, tanks and ships, protective housings for radar, missile covers, ballistic vests, stab-resistant vests and riot shields, among which ballistic vests are the most notable application. Ballistic vests made from UHMWPE fiber are lighter than those made from traditional materials and offer better ballistic protection, and the fiber has gradually become the preferred high-performance fiber in the ballistic vest market.
XINGI TECH Fiber Ballistic Products Reach or Exceed International Quality Levels
Publicly available information shows that, to meet the special needs of the defense market, XINGI TECH has developed multiple ultra-high-strength product grades such as J100, J200, J300 and J400, and has successfully developed a high-strength, high-modulus product with a strength of 42 cN/dtex for defense ballistic applications. Its wet spinning process technology has become increasingly mature, achieving new breakthroughs in continuous extraction and high-speed, high-ratio continuous drawing for industrial production, with all performance indicators at leading levels.
Fiber products of various specifications on display at the company
It is reported that the ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene ballistic fiber produced by XINGI TECH has physical characteristics such as low specific gravity, high strength, acid and alkali resistance and strong weather resistance in individual protection and ballistic equipment applications, giving it a high cost-performance advantage among currently known ballistic materials.
Repeated testing has verified that the ballistic products made from the company’s UHMWPE fiber have consistently first-class quality. Under the demanding conditions of individual protection, the quality of PE-material ballistic fabric, ballistic plates and other products has reached or even surpassed world levels.
As the international situation remains tense, countries continue to increase their spending on security, which has further spurred rapid growth in demand for military equipment. As an indispensable strategic material for modern national defense, UHMWPE fiber, driven by the goal of building a strong military under which “a strong country must first have a strong army”, will surely, with the launch of military equipment programs, drive continued rapid growth in demand for ballistic equipment including ballistic vests.
A company executive said that the company’s fiber products are currently in short supply, with particularly notable demand growth in defense applications. Over the next three to five years, XINGI TECH will seize market opportunities, further expand its production capacity, and continue to increase the market share and penetration of its products in the defense market and other application markets.
New product display area
XINGI TECH Is China’s Largest UHMWPE Fiber Producer
According to incomplete statistics, there are dozens of UHMWPE fiber producers in China, including Shandong Aidi, Beijing Tongyizhong and Yizheng Chemical Fibre, most of which are small in scale. As of now, the largest UHMWPE fiber producer in China and worldwide is XINGI TECH Co., Ltd.
It is reported that, after energy-saving upgrades and technical renovation of its existing production lines, the company’s actual production capacity can reach 15,000 tons per year, far exceeding other peer enterprises in scale.
According to public website records, XINGI TECH Co., Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Jiangsu Jiujiujiu Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Jiujiujiu Technology”), which is a controlled subsidiary of Yan’an Bikang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Yan’an Bikang”), a company listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, making XINGI TECH a second-tier subsidiary of Yan’an Bikang.
It is worth noting that, according to publicly disclosed information, UHMWPE fiber was originally a core business product of Jiujiujiu Technology. To improve its organizational structure and management system and further optimize its internal resource and asset structure, Jiujiujiu Technology recently transferred the assets and liabilities related to its UHMWPE fiber business, at book net value, to its wholly owned subsidiary XINGI TECH. XINGI TECH will thereafter focus on the new materials business and further develop high-performance fiber materials, and its future development is worth long-term attention and expectation.
The company (XINGI TECH Co., Ltd.), as a standing council member of the UHMWPE Materials Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance, has had its UHMWPE fiber products certified by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as a Manufacturing Single Champion product. The 2021 China Chemical Fiber Industry preliminary output ranking list released by the China Chemical Fibers Association (CCFA) also shows that the company ranked first in the 2021 China UHMWPE output preliminary ranking list. Its production scale and production capacity also rank first worldwide.
Reprint link: https://www.ceweekly.cn/2022/0714/390089.shtml (the official website of China Economic Weekly, People’s Daily)