APPLICATION AND CHALLENGES OF CARBON FIBER IN MARINE STRUCTURES AND EQUIPMENT¹⁾

Carbon fiber has excellent properties such as light weight, high strength, corrosion resistance and fatigue resistance, and it is widely used in the industrial production. Traditionally, steel is the main material of marine structures and equipment. However, with the development of offshore oil and gas into deep water and clean marine energy, carbon fiber begins to replace steel because of its advantages. This paper introduces the application and related researches of carbon fiber in marine pipelines and cables, mooring systems, pressure structures, wind turbine blade, hydrogen storage tanks and repairing. It is found that carbon fiber satisfies the demand of light weight and high strength. However, there are still some challenges, such as the connection strength between carbon fiber and metal materials, the durability of carbon fiber in complex marine environment and so on. It is believed that with the development of marine resources and technologies of materials, production and others, CFRP will play a grand role in marine structures and equipment.