Singlemode Optical Fibers With Enhanced Strength And Fatigue Resistance

James P. Clarkin; Gary A. Drenzek; Bolesh J. Skutnik

doi:10.1117/12.963255

15 January 1990 Singlemode Optical Fibers With Enhanced Strength And Fatigue Resistance

James P. Clarkin, Gary A. Drenzek, Bolesh J. Skutnik

Proceedings Volume 1174, Fiber Optics Reliability: Benign and Adverse Environments III; (1990) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.963255
Event: OE/FIBERS '89, 1989, Boston, United States

Abstract

In recent years the reliability of optical fibers has become of great concern due to military, medicaland other specialty high performance applications. With the nearing promise of the local loop and its inherent requirements for a robust fiber, even the telcom market has come to value research on stronger, more fatigue resistant fibers. With the extension of Hard Clad Silica (HCS®) technology to all silica optical fibers, a new singlemode fiber (smf) structure has been developed with enhanced reliability. A thin, hard, adherent, polymeric coating is placed between the silica cladding and the typical acrylate buffer coating. This paper presents results on the mechanical properties of this new singlemode fiber and compares it with the commercially available smf type. Dynamic strength, Weibull mean strength and slope, and static fatigue resistance, especially after zero-stress aging, are superior for the new fiber over the conventional smf fiber. Compared to commercial smf, the new fiber can withstand high stresses in moist environments for 40-60 times longer. More significantly after zero-stress aging in boiling water, the commercial smf break in <1 sec at stresses above 2.0 GPa (290 ksi), while the new fibers would still have expected lifetimes at 2.0 GPa stress of >9 years. These results make these fibers very useful for high reliability, high strength, long-haul fiber applications.

Citation Download Citation

James P. Clarkin, Gary A. Drenzek, and Bolesh J. Skutnik "Singlemode Optical Fibers With Enhanced Strength And Fatigue Resistance", Proc. SPIE 1174, Fiber Optics Reliability: Benign and Adverse Environments III, (15 January 1990); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.963255

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