Medical spunbond fabric, as a core material for medical protection and clinical nursing, has long been monopolized by foreign countries in key technologies such as high-end raw material preparation, precision equipment manufacturing, and functional modification, becoming a bottleneck that restricts the high-quality development of China’s medical textile industry.
In recent years, industrial clusters represented by Xiantao in Hubei Province have achieved breakthrough progress in the three core technology fields by building a deep integration system of industry university research through “enterprise problem-solving, university problem-solving, and government support”. This has accelerated the transformation of China’s medical spunbond fabric from “leading in scale” to “leading in technology”, providing a replicable practical model for key technological breakthroughs in the manufacturing industry.
Anchoring the core bottleneck: the target for tackling the three major “bottleneck” technologies
The technical barriers of medical spunbond fabric are mainly reflected in three dimensions: insufficient purity of raw materials, insufficient equipment accuracy, and unstable functional coatings. These bottlenecks directly determine the filtration efficiency, biological safety, and durability of the product. Before the establishment of the industry university research integration mechanism, Chinese enterprises had long faced the dilemma of “dependence on imported high-end raw materials, poor precision of production equipment, and short service life of functional products”:
The import dependence of medical grade polypropylene slices reaches 65%, and the core components of the melt blown die head need to be purchased from Germany and Japan. After washing the antibacterial coating product 5 times, the antibacterial rate drops to below 60%, far below the international standard of 90%. In response to these pain points, the industry university research collaborative innovation system has made precise efforts to build a full chain research and development model of “basic research pilot scale transformation mass production application”.
Collaboration between industry, academia and research breaks through the deadlock: breakthrough practices in three major technological fields
Raw Material Challenge: A Component Revolution from “Import Dependence” to “Autonomous and Controllable”
The low ash content and high melt index characteristics of high-end medical polypropylene raw materials are the core prerequisites for ensuring the uniformity of spunbond fabric webs. Professor Cheng Bowen’s team from Tianjin University of Science and Technology, in collaboration with leading enterprises such as Xiantao Hengtian Jiahua, has formed an interdisciplinary research and development team to address the challenges of high impurity content and insufficient fluidity in domestic polypropylene. The team has been conducting joint research and development for 8 years.
The team innovatively adopts the “nano doping molecular chain regulation” composite technology, improves resin flowability by introducing modified montmorillonite nanoparticles, optimizes polymerization process parameters to stabilize the melt index at 1500-2000g/10min, reduces ash content to below 0.01%, and surpasses similar imported products in key indicators.
To solve the “last mile” problem of achievement transformation, both parties have jointly built a pilot base for medical grade polypropylene slices with an annual output of 50000 tons. The School of Materials Science and Technology at Wuhan Textile University provides full process testing technology support and has developed specialized testing equipment to achieve real-time monitoring of 12 indicators such as ash content and melt index.
At present, the raw material has achieved large-scale production, which has increased the filtration efficiency of Hengtian Jiahua’s spunbond fabric products to 99.97%, reduced the cost of raw material procurement by 40%, and completely eliminated dependence on companies such as SK in South Korea and Sumitomo in Japan. In 2024, this technology won the first prize for scientific and technological progress from the China Textile Industry Federation and has been promoted to 32 key enterprises in Xiantao.
Equipment Breakthrough: Upgrading from “Precision Shortboard” to “International Leading” Equipment
The precision of the spray holes in the melt blown die head (which needs to reach 0.1 millimeters) and the stability of the servo control system are key equipment bottlenecks that restrict the production efficiency of spunbond fabrics. Hubei Weimei Medical once had an error of ± 0.1 millimeters in the production of medical sandpaper due to manual calibration, and was unable to pass the EU MDR certification. In 2023, under the platform of “Academician Expert Enterprise Tour” of Xiantao Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, the enterprise reached a resident cooperation agreement with Professor Lv Junjie’s team from Wuhan Vocational and Technical College to start “demand-oriented” equipment research and development.
The team proposed a theoretical model of “dynamic feedback adaptive regulation” based on clinical needs, and collaborated with the R&D department of the enterprise to transform the servo control system, integrating AI visual recognition and digital twin technology to achieve real-time closed-loop control of nozzle temperature and pressure. Through 12 rounds of prototype debugging, the production accuracy error of medical sandpaper fabric has been successfully reduced to ± 0.03 millimeters, reaching the international advanced level.
At the same time, in response to the problem of defect detection in mask production lines, a fully automated quality control system has been developed, which has reduced the defect rate by 85% and increased production capacity by 60%. The renovated production line not only passed the EU MDR certification, but also achieved a 75% increase in comprehensive efficiency of the protective clothing production line, shortened the order delivery cycle by 50%, and became a benchmark case for the localization transformation of Xiantao equipment.
Coating Innovation: Performance Leap from “Single Function” to “Intelligent Response”
Functional coating is the core technology that endows spunbond fabrics with antibacterial, conductive, and biocompatible properties. Traditional coatings have problems such as weak bonding and poor durability. Led by the Hubei Non woven Fabric Technology Innovation Center, a research and development team was formed in collaboration with Donghua University and Xiantao Tuoying New Materials, focusing on key breakthroughs in antibacterial and antiviral coatings and intelligent responsive coatings.
In the field of antibacterial coatings, the team innovatively adopts the “plasma pretreatment nano silver loading” composite process, first introducing polar groups on the surface of spunbond fabric through plasma modification, and then constructing nano cellulose scaffolds to enhance coating adhesion. After 50 washes, the antibacterial spunbond fabric developed still maintains an antibacterial rate of 99.2% against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, far exceeding the requirements of GB/T 20944.3-2007 standard.
In the field of intelligent coatings, pH sensitive hemostatic coating spunbond fabric has been developed, which automatically activates coagulation factors when in contact with wound exudate (pH 4.5-6.5), reducing hemostasis time by 60% compared to traditional gauze. It has completed clinical trials at Tongji Hospital in Wuhan. These technologies have been rapidly transformed through the pilot platform of the innovation center, driving the sales of environmental protection products of Tuoying New Materials to reach 40% and the annual output value to increase by 25%.
Mechanism Innovation: Building the “Xiantao Model” of Industry University Research Integration
Platformization Support: Creating a “Super Interface” for Technology Conversion
The “Four Bases and Two Centers” public service platform led by the Xiantao Municipal Government has become the core carrier of industry university research integration. The National Non woven Fabric Product Quality Inspection and Testing Center provides 5498 testing services, providing authoritative certification for research achievements.
The Hubei Non woven Fabric Technology Innovation Center, in collaboration with over 10 universities and more than 30 small and medium-sized enterprises, has established a two-way docking mechanism of “technology demand database achievement transformation database”. Since 2024, it has provided more than 100 technical solutions and obtained more than 60 patent authorizations. The center has also built two pilot production lines, shortening the cycle of scientific research results from laboratory to mass production from 3-5 years to 1.5-2 years.
Market incentives: activating the “endogenous driving force” of collaborative innovation
Xiantao pioneered the “Enterprise Proposition Group” mechanism, in which 20 leading enterprises release technical requirements and attract university experts to “lead the list”. The government provides up to 500000 yuan in research and development subsidies for projects that have reached cooperation. For industry university research projects that have received provincial-level or above scientific and technological awards, enterprises and university teams can share the reward funds, with R&D personnel rewards accounting for no less than 60%.
In 2024, Xiantao collected 15 technical requirements from enterprises, facilitated matching and cooperation between 5 enterprises and university teams, cashed in 24.83 million yuan in reward funds, and leveraged 8.265 billion yuan in enterprise technological transformation investment.
Talent oriented guarantee: Building a solid intellectual foundation for continuous innovation
Hengtian Jiahua, Wuhan Textile University, and others have taken the lead in establishing the College of Nonwoven Industry, adopting an “order based training” model, offering core courses such as spunbond technology and material modification, and annually delivering over a thousand professional and technical talents.
The government has implemented the “Industrial Talents Program”, providing a maximum living allowance of 300000 yuan to experts dispatched by universities to enterprises, and offering free academic upgrading services to technical backbones trained by enterprises.
As of the end of 2024, Xiantao has trained a total of 1441 professional and technical personnel in non-woven fabrics, and 33 enterprises have been recognized as provincial-level or above research and development institutions.
Results and Prospects: The Industrial Butterfly Transformation from “Following” to “Leading”
The implementation of the industry university research integration mechanism has promoted a qualitative leap in the Xiantao medical spunbond fabric industry: by 2024, more than 60 new patents were added to non-woven fabric enterprises in the city, with invention patents accounting for 35%.
The export unit price of high-end products is 20% -30% higher than the industry average. Tuoying New Materials’ “special and strong” materials break the monopoly of Europe and America and are exported to more than 150 countries and regions.
In the field of emergency support, meltblown fabrics produced with independent technology have ensured 40% of the national supply of protective clothing during the epidemic, demonstrating the strategic value of technological independence.
Looking towards the future, collaborative innovation between industry, academia, and research still needs to expand to “deeper levels and broader fields”:
At the technical level, it is necessary to focus on cutting-edge directions such as biodegradable spunbond materials and multi parameter sensing coatings, and establish a national level innovation consortium that spans universities and enterprises.
At the institutional level, it is necessary to establish a long-term mechanism for sharing achievements and risks, and explore the benefit distribution model of “university technology investment+enterprise market dividends”.
At the talent level, it is necessary to deepen the integration of industry and education, and cultivate compound talents who understand both material research and development and medical needs. With the continuous deepening of the integration of industry, academia and research, China’s medical spunbond fabric industry will completely break through the technological bottleneck and occupy the core discourse power in the global industrial chain.
Post time: Nov-29-2025