Zhang Liqun: Pilot of new materials for elastomers

China's rubber industry output value has exceeded one trillion yuan, for many years ranked first in the world. The high performance, functionalization and greening of rubber materials and products are the major themes of the rubber industry in the world. An expert has made important achievements in the fields of high-performance rubber nanocomposive materials, green rubber materials and special functional rubber materials, and has made outstanding contributions to the development of China's rubber industry
China
. He is Zhang Liqun, Dean of the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Engineering.
can not only "research" but also "produce
In September 1986, Zhang Liqun was admitted to the Department of Polymers of Beijing University of Chemical Engineering, where he studied plastic engineering. From the beginning of this year, Zhang Liqun and rubber, and in the following 12 years, all the way to become a professor at Beijing University of Chemical Engineering, and then became the Ministry of Education Changjiang Scholars Special Professor, the National Distinguished Youth Fund winner, the national 973 project chief expert.
rubber material is one of the three polymer materials, which is widely used in the national economy and the national defense industry because of its unique high elasticity and viscosity. Rubber products easy to wear and tear, poor durability, so how to improve the durability of rubber materials and anti-destructive, has been the focus of the industry's technology.
In view of these problems, Zhang Liqun put forward the view of the necessity of nano-enhancement of rubber material, and evolved it into an important principle to solve the problem of rubber low-strength, and then put forward the "over-permeable" system of nano-reinforced, including the concept parameters such as critical particle spacing, optimal cross-link density, optimal interface action, etc., and expounded that the essence of nano-reinforced rubber is the evolutionary energy consumption and molecular orientation reinforcement of the physical network built by macro-molecules and nanoparticles under the external force. This mechanism provides theoretical guidance for the design and preparation of high-performance nanocomposive materials and is widely accepted by rubber scholars at home and abroad.
in addition, Zhang Liqun also took the lead in the international "nano spring" enhanced elastomer concept, self-assembled super elastomer concept, and also took the lead in the establishment of molecular simulation research and design of new elastomer direction, in cooperation with peers to prepare carbon nanotube rubber composite anti-static tires, graphene rubber composite energy-saving tires and friction effects of electric tires. These achievements are in the international leading level, internationally renowned tire companies such as good news in the United States, Michelin in France, Pirelli in China and Bridgestone in Japan came to conduct in-depth exchanges, and give high praise.
high viscosity of rubber, and the dispersion of nanoparticles is extremely difficult to compound, mixing energy consumption is high. How to realize the dispersion and interface regulation of nanoparticles in rubber at low cost and efficiently is a major demand in the rubber industry. In response to this problem, Zhang Liqun led the scientific research team, invented the nanoparticle water dispersion - rubber emulsion coagulation composite composite material complete set of technology, to achieve a rich and cheap natural clay in rubber nano-stripping dispersion and interface control, so that rubber and nanoparticles mixed dispersion of the comprehensive energy consumption reduced by more than 20%, so that rubber strength increased 6 to 10 times, air tightness increased by more than 50%.
the success of the theoretical system and the laboratory did not satisfy Zhang Liqun and his team, their goal is to put scientific research results into industrial production, to obtain industrial products. Zhang Liqun team with Hainan Natural Rubber Co., Ltd., Yunnan Natural Rubber Co., Ltd. and Zibo Oriental Chemical Co., Ltd., respectively, built a clay / natural rubber nanocompos composite production line, nano-silicon dioxide / natural rubber composites production line, clay / butyl rubber nanocomposity production line, so that rubber products in large-scale engineering tires, high-performance meridian tires, high-performance conveyor belt to be used.
For emulsion-free rubber, based on in-depth theoretical research, Zhang Liqun led the team to use large series of refiners as a dispersion-solid-phase interface reaction equipment for high-viscosity systems, developed a high-reaction efficiency silane interface modified system, broke through the mix-reaction system difficult to control temperature, low solid reaction efficiency and HIGH VOC emissions of technical bottlenecks, and jointly achieved a high amount of filled nano-silicon dioxide / polysol benzene composite material industrialization.
Based on the above-mentioned theoretical and technical achievements, Zhang Liqun led the team to successfully develop high-performance tire treads and airtate layers and other nanocomposive materials, and jointly produce high wear,fuel-saving, safe tires. Lingling tires alone achieved sales revenue of 6 billion yuan, 2016 exports from Europe and the United States reached 576 million U.S. dollars, and realized the original Chinese tires in Volkswagen, GM and other international brands of cars, so that China's tires ahead of the European Union "tyre labeling law" double B level, into the forefront of the world. Recently, they and the company successfully developed rolling resistance to A-class car meridian tires and load meridian tires, the level of tires in the international market has not yet been large-scale. In order to meet the development strategy of China's large aircraft, Professor Zhang Liqun also led the relevant forces throughout the country, with the support of major projects of the National Natural Resources Fund Commission, to carry out relevant basic research to support the independent development of China's large aircraft tires.
so far, Professor Zhang Liqun led the team with more than 100 domestic and foreign rubber materials and products in the field of enterprise cooperation, only the joint scholarship between schools and enterprises has established nearly 30 projects, among the best in domestic universities. As a result of Professor Zhang Liqun's outstanding contribution in the field of rubber materials science and engineering, he has received a number of important international awards in related fields - Sparks-Thomas Award, International Polymer Processing Society Morand Lambla Award, Japan Chemical Society Asia Research Award, International Rubber Conference Organization Medal IRCO Medal.
lead the development of green rubber materials
at present, most rubber materials must be cross-linked when applied, which also makes the recycling of rubber materials extremely difficult. As the world's largest producer of rubber products, China's waste rubber production is also ranked first in the world.
TPV is a class of high value-added green rubber materials that are easy to recycle, but the preparation technology is very difficult and is controlled by several large international companies. And many countries in auto parts, construction, electronics and many other fields are forcing the use of easy-to-use green rubber materials, which also makes China's rubber products exports are hindered.
In response to this difficult problem, Zhang Liqun led the team to create a step-by-step high/low temperature mixing and additive "fixed phase" pre-dispersion - high temperature dynamic full vulcanization (cross-linking) new process technology, while developing a high-stick rubber system dynamic cross-linking reaction applicable to the special vulcanization system, design customization The dynamic crosslinking reactor with high mixing, high shear and high temperature control ability solves the problem of matching the dynamic crosslinking rate of rubber with the crushing rate of microna scale, and successfully realizes the ideal microstructure of low-scale plastic phase as continuous phase and high-scale rubber phase as micronaar dispersion phase and high crosslinking. With Shandong Daun Group, set up China's first high-performance tons of TPV production enterprises, can produce three yuan ethyl propylene rubber, butyl rubber, butyl rubber and other series of TPV products. The development of this independent technology also makes domestic TPV in the domestic market share of nearly 30%, foreign products therefore reduced by more than 50%, and domestic sealing high-flow grade TPV has become the best international performance products, medical sealing TPV has become the only domestic, international second successful product development. The cooperative company was successfully listed on the A board.
" general rubber in recycling, the cross-link key needs to be broken before it can be reprocessed. However, the traditional technology VOC emissions are very high, pollution, quality instability, has been a multi-ministerial joint text gradually banned. Zhang Liqun introduced, at present, the Beihua team has developed a new generation of multi-order screw continuous dynamic desulfurization technology, with a high degree of automation continuity, product quality stability and VOC emissions are very low characteristics, has been listed by many ministries as a green advanced technology promotion directory. At present, the technology is widely used in six enterprises throughout the country and has also been exported to Slovakia. In the future, this technology will provide solutions for the green, continuous and intelligent production of more than 4 million tons of recycled rubber in China every year.
in addition, Professor Zhang Liqun led the team in the international original bio-based polyester synthetic rubber and yikangate synthetic rubber, is currently carrying out thousands of tons of engineering and application development, and led the establishment of China dandelion rubber industry technology innovation alliance, vigorously promote the development of China's dandelion rubber technology and industry. These studies are supported by the national "13th Five-Year Plan" key research and development programs.
innovation and development of national defense special rubber materials
the level of armaments directly determines the level of stability of our national life, the localization of armaments is also an important indicator to measure a country's national defense level.
addition to the development and industrial production of a series of new products in the civil field, Zhang Liqun also contributed a lot in the field of defense rubber materials. He led the team to invent an efficient selective hydrogenation catalyst, broke through the hydrogenation process and catalyst recovery technology bottleneck, established China's only military oil-resistant, anti-aging hydrogenated butyl rubber production platform, the first time to achieve the independent guarantee supply of this special rubber. This material is applied to the first flight and subsequent installation of large transport aircraft, amphibious AG600 aircraft, straight 8 series aircraft, so that the aircraft's special hose life is greatly extended, effectively improve the technical level of various types of aircraft, reduce maintenance costs.
rubber components under complex heavy loads have a short life span and have been troubling the development and use of important weapons and equipment. Zhang Liqun led the project team, synthesized with ultra-high anti-cutting, anti-abrasive and low rolling resistance performance of a new generation of special engineering rubber materials, set a tank weight-bearing wheel rubber tire frame life of the best level in history, and has been installed for trial;
For the submarine in the north and south "poles" of the service of the new requirements of the performance of the war skills, Zhang Liqun and the team also created a hydrogen-bond network rubber material, greatly improved the relevant performance, has been able to mass production.
Zhang Liqun, Dean of the School of Materials, Beijing University of Chemical Engineering
Zhang Liqun, Dean of the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Engineering, Ph.D. Tutor, Special Professor of Changjiang Scholars of the Ministry of Education, winner of the National Fund for Distinguished Youth. He is currently the director of the laboratory of "preparation and molding of new polymer materials" in the key laboratory of Beijing General University, the director of the Center for Energy Conservation and Resource Engineering of Elastomer Materials of the Ministry of Education, the winner of the first "Million People Program" and the chief scientist of the national "973" project. Director of the Technical Committee of china Synthetic Rubber Industry Association, China Tire Industry Technology Innovation Alliance, China Advanced Rubber Industry Alliance and China Dandelion Rubber Industry Technology Innovation Alliance.
main research areas are rubber materials science and engineering, polymer nanocompos composites, bio-based polymer materials, polymer processing engineering and so on. Published more than 400 articles, as the first author or communication contact of SCI included more than 200 articles, selected in Elsevier 2014-2017 China's list of highly cited scholars; 8th and 4th prizes, as well as outstanding science and technology workers, special government subsidies issued by the State Council, the 9th China Youth Science and Technology Award, the China Rubber Industry Association outstanding scientific and technological innovation leader, the 18th Mao-Sheng Science and Technology Award, He Liang Heli Youth Innovation Award, the Academy of Engineering Guanghua Science and Technology Award.