TPU Expansion, Thermoplastic 3D-Printing Tender, Type IV Hydrogen Tank Award and Battery-Housing Pultrusion: Composites Digest, 26 Oct 2026

Composites industry digest from LX Composites (Danyang Lixing Carbon Products Co., Ltd.) for 26 October 2026 — seven objective industry and application signals.

Industry: Huafon Zhejiang’s +75,000 t/y TPU digital workshop expansion accepted for environmental review

Wenzhou Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau published on 21 October the acceptance notice for the expansion project. The project — an expansion at the Binhai plant with no new land — involves a total investment of CNY 167.5 million (environmental investment about CNY 0.86 million) and adds six production lines for an additional 75,000 t/y of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). Three existing Phase II lines (6,000 t/y) will be relocated into the same zone, bringing the zone’s capacity to 81,000 t/y. With approved capacity of 300,000 t/y, the company’s total TPU capacity will reach 375,000 t/y after completion; the company cites a well-performing TPU market as the driver. Continued TPU supply growth matters for the thermoplastic-composite supply chain, where TPU is a common matrix for CF/TPU unidirectional tapes and short-fibre systems. Source: Wenzhou Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau (via DT New Materials), 21 Oct 2026.

Industry: robotic thermoplastic-composite 3D printing equipment tender concludes — CARACOL (Italy) selected

The China Aeronautical Manufacturing Technology Research Institute has concluded its international tender for one robotic thermoplastic-composite 3D printing system. Bid opening took place on 18 September 2026 (project No. 5492-2640H01BJ174). Beijing Haosheng Technology Development Co. was named first candidate at EUR 466,000, with CARACOL S.R.L (Italy) as the equipment manufacturer and delivery four months after contract signing; Shanghai Junpu Electronic Technology Co. was second at EUR 650,000. The result signals continued installation of thermoplastic-composite additive-manufacturing capacity within China’s aviation research and development system. Sources: Bilianwang (award notice), 23 Oct 2026; AVIC e-procurement platform (evaluation notice).

Industry: Tianhai Hydrogen Energy wins 2026 Machinery Industry Science and Technology Progress First Prize; Type IV cylinders now in batch domestic use

Tianhai Hydrogen Energy’s high-performance composite pressure vessels for energy-gas storage project was awarded the First Prize of the 2026 Machinery Industry Science and Technology Progress Award (announced 19 October). Completed jointly with Zhejiang University, Hefei General Machinery Research Institute and supply-chain partners, the project covers design theory, material systems, manufacturing processes and engineering application of high-performance composite high-pressure cylinders, with Tianhai undertaking the laboratory-to-production conversion. The company reports breakthroughs in Type IV liner material selection and forming, sealing structure design, lightweight design and fibre winding under tension, backed by more than 50 patents. Its high-end composite cylinder intelligent base in the Beijing municipal sub-center is in production, and Type IV cylinders have entered batch domestic application, covering 20–70 MPa and 1.5–1080 L, for hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, natural-gas vehicles, fire and rescue, and low-altitude-economy applications. Source: Tianhai Industry, 19 Oct 2026.

Industry: Kalai’s Tongxiang base in full supply mode — 100,000 battery box covers and 500,000 pultruded functional parts per month

Tongxiang municipal government disclosed on 21 October that Kalai Technology Group’s Chongfu Town base has been running at full capacity since July. Group vice-president Jiang Fan said orders are saturated and lines fully loaded, with customers including BYD, Li Auto and NIO, and the company ranks among CATL’s most core composite-material suppliers. A 2,500-tonne hydraulic press completes a part in 5–6 minutes; composite battery-box covers are more than 30% lighter than metal counterparts, with manufacturing costs down by more than 20%. The company claims China’s first automated preforming line and the country’s first automated wet-compression-moulding line, and to be the first domestic producer to use a high-pressure volume process for battery housings. Disclosed volumes — 100,000 battery-box covers and 500,000 pultruded functional structural parts per month, with annual deliveries expected to roughly double — quantify real demand for pultruded profiles and laminates in the battery-housing chain. Source: Tongxiang Municipal People’s Government, 21 Oct 2026.

Application: CCTV low-altitude-economy feature — deformable carbon-fibre parts from weave-angle and layup design

A CCTV feature on 25 October showed a deformable carbon-fibre component whose foldable, rollable behaviour comes from engineering the weave angle and layup of carbon-fibre prepregs, rather than from a special resin system. Researchers preserved structural stiffness while enabling curling deformation, pointing to foldable-wing UAVs and portable rescue equipment; the same facility uses a super-large autoclave for one-piece moulding of large aviation composite parts. The feature also covered Jingdezhen Aviation Town — 12 km², more than 100 aviation companies, and a 15th Five-Year Plan target of more than CNY 50 billion in total industrial output spanning manned and unmanned, light and heavy-payload categories. The case illustrates design freedom as a differentiator for prepreg and fabric supply: weave pattern, areal weight and width customisation combined with layup design. Source: CCTV News, 25 Oct 2026.

Supply: Jilin Chemical Fiber’s 12,000 t/y CFRP pultruded-profile line enters the production stage

Jilin Chemical Fiber confirmed on 19 October, via the Shenzhen Stock Exchange interactive platform, that its raised-funding project for carbon-fibre composite products has reached the production stage, with sales to follow downstream customer certification. The line is designed for 12,000 t/y of carbon-fibre-reinforced composite pultruded profiles — including carbonisation and composite lines — using pultrusion, mainly targeting wind-blade spar caps, under a total investment of CNY 1.458 billion. The company noted that some figures cited by the group are group-level and differ from listed-company figures, and should not be simply combined. Source: Composites News (citing the Shenzhen Stock Exchange interactive reply), 19 Oct 2026.

Sustainability: EU LIFE BIOBCOMPO concludes — plant-fibre thermoplastic composite parts on around 10,000 vehicles, about 8% lighter and recyclable

The EU LIFE BIOBCOMPO project, led by parts maker SAPA with FCA Italy (now Stellantis Europe), Centro Ricerche Fiat and Sòphia High Tech, has concluded with the technology industrialised on the Lancia Ypsilon dashboard. The project develops low-density thermoplastic bio-composites that replace conventional mineral fillers with plant-based cellulose fibres and can be processed on standard injection-moulding machines. Around 10,000 vehicles on the road since 2022 use the parts; each part is about 8% lighter, roughly 20% of the material comes from non-fossil cellulose fibres, and the parts are confirmed recyclable at end of life — an example of the recyclability and bio-based-content requirements European OEMs now verify at volume-production level. Source: CINEA (EU Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency), 13 Oct 2026.

Export-control reminder: Ministry of Commerce Announcements No. 49/50/51 (UAV-related items, shield machines, dredgers) take effect 18 November 2026; the 9A901.c carbon-fibre propeller-blade clause remains a compliance checkpoint for UAV exports using woven fabrics and prepregs. Source: Ministry of Commerce, Announcement No. 49.