Research on China's orbiting Tiangong space station, which functions as a national space laboratory, has helped to deliver new alloy materials that could be vital for advancing key industries.
Researcher Zhao Jiuzhou leads a team at the Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences that has developed improved phase separation alloys tailored to specific needs following research both on the ground and aboard the orbiting space station.
"It used to be hard to prepare these alloys on the ground. Through our research, we can now achieve the solidified structures of alloy we need. We can produce materials with small, evenly distributed dispersive phase particles within the matrix by regulating and controlling the experiments. It is now possible to make materials with the 'shell-core' structure, a structure like the dragon fruit, to serve different needs," said Zhao.
Looking for the ideal micro-gravity environment to test their theories, Zhao said they conducted their first experiments on the Tiangong-2 Space Laboratory, which was launched in 2016.
Zhao and his team have had more lab time made available to them since the Tiangong space station began construction in 2021, with experiments carried out during the Shenzhou-13, Shenzhou-15 and Shenzhou-16 manned space missions.
The experiments involved a "high temperature material science lab cabinet" and a "container-free material science lab cabinet" aboard the space station.
"We are now exploring practical applications and hoping to start some international collaborations. We have made a lot of progress in alloy solidification theory and maybe we can develop alloys tailored to industrial needs in the future," Zhao said.
The team's research so far has led to new methods for creating copper-based sealing bush alloys and noble metal alloys, which are in high demand in the mechanical and electronics industries.
China's space station helps progress in developing new alloy materials
China is continuing to accelerate its green energy transition while meeting the considerable power demand, with renewable energy representing over 80 percent of the country's new installed power generation capacity.
The latest data showed that China's newly installed capacity for new energy power generation reached 258 million kilowatts from January to November, accounting for 81.5 percent of the total newly installed power generation capacity.
Experts say the renewable energy expansion can be partly attributed to China's efforts to accelerate the construction of new energy bases in its western areas to promote the distribution of new energy production in the more populous central and eastern parts of the country.
"For the next step, China's new energy power generation will be both centralized and distributed. It will also be land-based and sea-based. The generated power will be transmitted to other regions and consumed locally. We will continue promoting the construction of the wind and solar power generation bases in the sandy areas, rocky areas and deserts in the shelterbelt program in the northeast, north, and northwest regions of China. We will push forward the development of the water, wind, and solar power generation bases in southwestern China and the offshore wind power generation bases in eastern China. We will work to strengthen coordination in an effort to comprehensively diversify the supply of new energy," said Rao Jianye, director of the Clean Energy Research Institute under the China Electric Power Planning and Engineering Institute.
China is also improving its new power system, keeping enhancing the system's capability for receiving and distributing new energy so as to support the country's energy transition.
As China races to construct more new energy storage projects like photothermal energy storage projects and compressed-air energy storage projects, so far, the country's new energy storage has a capacity of over 60 million kilowatts, marking a significant achievement in maintaining the stable operation of the country's power system.
By the end of July, China's total installed capacity of wind and solar power had exceeded 1.2 billion kilowatts, more than doubling the 2020 level and achieving the 2030 target six years ahead of schedule.
New energy represents over 80 pct of China's new installed power generation capacity
