A new material company in Jinan, Shandong province has received a letter from the Long March 5 Carrier Rocket Model Office.

The letter stated that the phenolic microsphere, phenolic resin and phenolic foam materials supplied by the company, Shandong Shengquan New Materials Co, a subsidiary of Shengquan Group, are reliable and of excellent quality, and have helped with the scientific research and production of aerospace materials and technologies.

Shandong Shengquan New Materials Co is the largest supplier of phenolic resin in Asia.

A range of high-end composite materials that are made using the company's phenolic resins have been used on trains, metros and even the Long March 5B carrier rocket, according to Tang Lei, CEO of the Shengquan Group.

The phenolic hollow microspheres have been used four times in the re-entry module of China's Shenzhou V spacecraft.

The lightweight and flame-retarded steel products developed from phenolic resins have been used on Fuxing trains.

The phenolic resin light-core steel products produced by the company are currently used to make Jinan's subway seats and air-conditioning ducts.

At present, the company's annual production capacity of phenolic resin is about 400,000 tons.

The new material industry in Shandong has witnessed rapid development since 2018. To date, the province has built seven national high-tech industrialization bases and cultivated new material clusters as part of efforts to replace its old growth drivers with new, tech-driven ones.