75% cost-cut: China unveils world’s first fixed-wing drone made of bamboo fibre
In addition to drones, the material holds potential in new energy vehicles, marine equipment, satellites and spacecraft
The savings meant that the overall structural costs of a drone made with the new material could be reduced by more than 20 per cent, according to the research team.
The drone industry relies on traditional composite materials such as carbon fibre, which have high energy consumption and are difficult to degrade. Bamboo presents a new way to design lightweight, low-cost drones built with a sustainable material.
The drone was co-developed by the International Centre for Bamboo and Rattan, Beihang University’s Ningbo Institute of Technology and the Long Bamboo Technology Group.
“Bamboo-based composite materials for drones not only need to meet stringent mechanical performance requirements, but also need to overcome a series of technical challenges such as moulding processes and environmental adaptability,” project lead Qin Daochun told Xinhua.
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