China's bionic synthetic rubber technology has achieved important breakthroughs this year, taking the country one step further in the domestic production of civil aircraft tires.

Aircraft tires are the "shoes" of civil aircraft. They have to be able to withstand the extreme temperatures of about -40 degrees Celsius to 70 degrees Celsius and the impact of more than dozens of tonnes when the aircraft lands.

Known as "black gold," natural rubber is an important strategic material and industrial raw material, and it has an irreplaceable role in aerospace, transportation and many other fields.

In 2022, China produced about 740,000 tonnes of natural rubber. However, the country consumed over 6.6 million tonnes of natural rubber, meaning 90 percent of the consumption relied on imports, China Media Group (CMG) reported.

To make the core technology of aircraft tires autonomous and controllable, Chinese scientists have proposed the research and development of bionic synthetic rubber aviation tires.

By imitating the molecular structure and key chemical components of natural rubber, the scientists have achieved important breakthroughs and completed end-to-end penetration and application verification of aviation tire localization this year.

The scientists told CMG that they had overcome the continuous polymerization technique and engineering technology and prepared batches of bionic synthetic rubber. The key performance indicators of bionic synthetic rubber have reached the level of imported natural rubber of special grade.

Yang Xiaoniu, director of the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told CMG that repeated testing has shown that the service life of aircraft tires made of bionic synthetic rubber is 35 percent longer than those made of natural rubber under extreme working conditions.

He pointed out that the successful development of bionic synthetic rubber indicates that China has turned natural rubber from an agricultural product into an industrial product, overcoming the harsh requirements of natural rubber in geographical locations and reducing the country's dependence on imports. (CGTN)