Breakthrough point: Supercritical foaming technology
On May 31, the China Chemical Industry Society organized an authoritative technical evaluation meeting in Beijing for the key achievement — Key Technologies & Green Industrialization of Autoclave Supercritical Polymer Foaming, developed by Prof. Zhang Zhenxiu’s research team from the College of Polymer Science and Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, in collaboration with multiple industrial partners.
Expert panels confirmed that the core technologies and end-product performance have reached world-leading standards, ending decades-long foreign monopoly on core production processes and high-end equipment for elastic foam materials, a long-standing bottleneck restricting China’s foam industry development.
Supercritical foaming is an indispensable core manufacturing technology for high-performance foams widely adopted in new energy, high-end equipment manufacturing and energy conservation sectors. For years, critical process routes and precision production equipment were dominated by foreign manufacturers, leaving domestic industries troubled by insufficient equipment precision, uncontrollable cell structure and poor eco-friendly production capacity.
After nearly 20 years of persistent R&D, the team built an integrated independent innovation system covering process – equipment – material modification.
✅ Process innovation: Original “small preform to large finished part” autoclave forming technique breaks global bead foaming patent barriers; closed-loop nitrogen recycling system hits over 90% gas recovery rate, enabling low-density, high-precision elastic foam production with uniform cell distribution.
✅ Equipment localization: Self-developed quick-opening clamp-type full-automatic supercritical foaming autoclave solves sealing & temperature-pressure control pain points; pressure relief speed is 6x higher than mainstream international benchmarks with ±1℃ precise internal temperature control, supporting ten-thousand-ton level eco-friendly mass production and full domestic substitution of premium core equipment.
✅ Material modification: Invented novel molecular network regulation methods via grafting, chain extension and crosslinking tuning, expanding feasible foaming temperature range and realizing controllable cell morphology for specialty rubber & elastomer foams.
The achievement owns a robust IP portfolio: 38 authorized invention patents (including 4 Japan-granted patents) plus 51 published academic papers.
Industrialization has been fully realized at multiple manufacturers. In the past three years, partner enterprises generated over ¥2.1 billion in incremental sales and ¥300 million in extra profits. This eco-efficient technological model accelerates low-carbon transformation and overall industrial upgrading for China’s supercritical foaming industry.
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