China’s Geotechnical Construction Materials Embrace New Opportunities

“The geotechnical construction materials industry has consistently prioritized innovation as the core driving force for high-quality development over the years, strengthening foundational research in common technologies and improving a multi-tiered scientific and technological innovation system. As a result, product performance, engineering quality, and application scope have continuously improved, contributing sustainably to the construction of a Beautiful China,” said Li Lingshen, Vice President of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, at the recently held Third Plenary Session of the Third Council and the Seventh Geotechnical Engineering Design Innovation Forum of the Geotechnical Construction Materials Branch of the China Industrial Textiles Industry Association (CNITA).

Currently, China has emerged as a global leader in manufacturing geotechnical construction textiles, boasting a comprehensive product range, robust production capacity, and extensive engineering applications. In 2022, nearly 80% of China’s geotechnical construction materials were applied in sectors such as transportation infrastructure, water conservancy and hydropower, and environmental protection. As a multidisciplinary, cross-sectoral industry with diversified applications, how can the geotechnical construction materials sector achieve sustained and rapid development? What strategies should be adopted to further expand its application areas in the future?

Seizing Policy Opportunities

“During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, major projects in new infrastructure, new urbanization, transportation, and water conservancy will continue to drive innovation and application of geotechnical construction materials. Simultaneously, the environmental protection industry has become a new growth point for market demand in this sector. Geotechnical construction materials will embrace broader development prospects in serving infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road Initiative and RCEP member countries,” said Nie Songlin, President of the CNITA Geotechnical Construction Materials Branch. He emphasized that with policy support, China’s geotechnical construction materials industry has entered a new phase of development.

Nie highlighted that China has become a global powerhouse in engineering applications of geotechnical construction materials. Regarding geotechnical materials, China is a major producer of polyester, with polyester geotextiles dominating engineering applications and expected to remain mainstream in the future. In construction materials, polyester filament waterproof base fabrics—known as the fourth-generation base fabrics—are critical textiles for construction, with substantial domestic production and consumption.

Faced with promising market demand, Zong Ruilong, Deputy Director of the Textile Department under the Consumer Goods Industry Division of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), stressed that seizing policy opportunities is crucial for industry enterprises. “During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the MIIT, jointly with the National Development and Reform Commission, issued the Guidelines on High-Quality Development of the Industrial Textiles Industry. Geotechnical construction textiles, as a vital component of industrial textiles, were included among the eight key areas for enhancement,” Zong stated. He added that the MIIT will collaborate with relevant departments to integrate expanding market demand with deepening supply-side structural reforms, innovate-driven development with strengthening industrial and supply chain resilience and security, basic livelihood protection with leading consumption upgrades, daily consumption needs with serving development across sectors, traditional cultural heritage with modern fashion dissemination, productivity improvements with high-quality employment promotion, and consolidating domestic industrial advantages with strengthening international cooperation. These efforts aim to drive steady progress in the textile industry, including industrial textiles, and establish a modern textile industrial system.

“Geotechnical construction materials are vital to people’s livelihoods, empowering a better life, and essential to national development, participating in building a Beautiful China. Standing at a new starting point, China’s geotechnical and construction textiles industry will inevitably enter a new phase of optimizing industrial and supply chains, reshaping new drivers for development and international competitive advantages,” Li Lingshen proposed. He emphasized the need to cultivate unique strengths, champion technological innovation, optimize supply systems to lead international markets, innovate development pathways with a focus on green and low-carbon practices, and promote digital and intelligent transformation to establish a new industrial development landscape.

Strengthening Industrial Advantages

“As a global leader in manufacturing geotechnical construction textiles, China’s future development will focus on green manufacturing, intelligent technologies, enhanced standards and quality, and expanded engineering applications,” said Li Guimei, President of CNITA, outlining three recommendations for future development: strengthening industrial advantages through advanced application and demonstration projects for geotechnical construction textiles, increasing the influence of high-quality domestic enterprises, and aligning more closely with international standards, as well as leveraging new innovation platforms to advance industry-university-research collaboration.

Currently, to strengthen industrial advan tages, leading enterprises are enhancing their independent innovation capabilities. Supported by these enterprises, innovative application projects such as key technologies for producing high-strength, heavy-denier polypropylene spunbond needle-punched geotextiles and their industrialization, as well as research on critical production technologies and equipment for high-strength, heavy-denier bicomponent spunbond nonwovens, are gradually being implemented.

Expanding Application Areas

Renowned for their versatility and cost-effectiveness, geotechnical construction materials have solved numerous engineering challenges, generating significant economic and social benefits while playing an irreplaceable role in construction projects.

“High-strength, heavy-denier polypropylene filament needle-punched geotextiles demonstrate excellent mechanical properties, superior water permeability and conductivity, and appropriate void sizes that resist clogging, making them outstanding geosynthetics,” said Xiang Feng, Chairman of Tiandingfeng Holdings Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Tiandingfeng”). He explained that the company’s advanced spinning technology produces geotextile fibers with a fineness of up to 14D, three to four times that of traditional spinning methods, and a single-fiber strength exceeding 3.5 g/D, hence the term “high-strength, heavy-denier fibers.” These fibers offer advantages such as lightweight, excellent chemical stability, high mechanical properties, effective drainage, superior filtration, and ease of construction. High-strength, heavy-denier polypropylene filament needle-punched geotextiles are widely used in airport runways, highway and railway projects, tunneling, water conservancy projects, landfills, and ecological slopes.

In addition to high-strength, heavy-denier polypropylene filament needle-punched geotextiles, Tiandingfeng’s polyester spunbond needle-punched geotextiles are extensively applied in geotechnical engineering. Xiang introduced that these products, made from 100% high-quality virgin polyester chips through spinning, web formation, and needle punching, typically have a thickness ranging from 1mm to 5mm. With high porosity, excellent permeability, and outstanding mechanical properties, they serve functions such as reinforcement, protection, drainage, filtration, and separation in geotechnical engineering projects.

The effectiveness of geotechnical construction materials is also being tested in specialized environments such as road construction, desertification control, and ecological protection. In sand control efforts across Tibet, Xinjiang, Gansu, and Inner Mongolia, the durability of geosynthetics is critical for ensuring long-term project effectiveness and plant growth. Liu Jinwen, President of the Ecological Construction Engineering Branch of the China Forestry and Environment Promotion Association, stated that new materials like geogrid sand barriers and geotextile bags are highly effective in controlling mobile sand dunes during sandstorm outbreaks and can be used as emergency measures. However, he emphasized that the application of geotechnical materials in specific scenarios requires case-by-case analysis, and their cold resistance and anti-aging properties still need improvement.

“Geotechnical construction materials, in the form of synthetic geonets, are applied in ecological protection of highway slopes, enhancing slope stability, landscape aesthetics, and road safety,” said Qiao Jiangang, a professor at the School of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Hebei University of Technology. He suggested strengthening demonstration and application of synthetic geonets in slope ecological restoration, noting that relevant technologies are significant for extending the geonet industrial chain and improving their application in highway engineering, thereby enhancing road capacity and slope durability.

Furthermore, geotechnical construction materials play a vital role in landscape applications. Cheng Li, Director of the Architectural Site Institute at the China Architecture Design & Research Group Co., Ltd., emphasized that geotechnical materials, as mainstream anti-seepage materials, are indispensable in landscaping and will see extensive future use in landscape greening.