A carbon fiber plant with a capacity of 10,000 tons a year will be built in Baotou, in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, officials said.

The signing ceremony, which was held recently, was presided over by Wang Xiulian, deputy mayor of Baotou, according to an Aug 1 report in the Baotou Daily.

The project, developed by Inner Mongolia Guangwei Carbon Fiber Co, is expected to cover an area of 53 hectares. The construction work will be divided into three phases.

The first phase will cost 500 million yuan ($72.48 million), involving a 2,000-ton/year carbon fiber production line, raw silk and carbonization workshops and related support workshops. The first phase will take three years to be completed.

Experts say carbon fiber is an inorganic polymer fiber with a carbon content of more than 90 percent. It has excellent mechanical properties and chemical stability.

Its density is lower than aluminum and its strength is higher than that of steel. Carbon fiber is the fiber with the highest specific strength and the highest specific tolerance among the high-performance fibers that have been mass-produced at present.

Carbon fiber has excellent properties of high strength, high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance and good electrical conductivity. It is widely used in the aerospace, transportation, medical, energy and other industries.

The signing ceremony for a new carbon fiber plant takes place in Baotou, in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region. [Photo/Baotou Daily]