Laurence N. Wesson, Nicholas Volinic, Nellie L. Cabato, Richard E. Green
Proceedings Volume Fiber Optics Reliability: Benign and Adverse Environments III, (1990) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.963254
A novel lensed termination system has been developed for the use of fiber optic cable in military cylindrical connectors. Besides tolerating the great variation in longitudinal position experienced by contacts in standard cylindrical connectors, the new termini incorporate a "PBF" crimp attachment to both the fiber and the cable strength members which confers great resistance to mechnanical and environmental extremes. In the test program reported here, five different groups, of ten terminus pairs each, were subjected to terminus insertion force, optical insertion loss, terminus removal force, temperature life (1000 hours at +150 C), engagement force, separation force, thermal shock (-55 to +150 C), tensile strength (19 lbs.), durability, random vibration (24 hours, 39.6 g's rms), shock (300 g's half sine, 3 msec), salt spray, cable flex, cable twist, cable retention (38 lbs.), sand and dust, humidity, altitude immersion, fluid immersion in 10 different fluids, and repeats of the tem-perature life and tensile strength tests. In every case the changes in insertion loss were less than 0.5 dB, and in most cases the changes were less than 0.2 dB. Of additional interest were tests directed specifically at the crimp fiber attachment, which was subjected to parallel testing, with epoxy terminations, in thermal shock, tensile force, and severe cable twist tests. The results showed that whereas the epoxy terminations showed the typical susceptibility to bond failure in each test, with moderate to drastic pistoning, the new crimped terminations showed little or no pistoning at any time.