Development of High Strength Optical Fiber Waveguides Using Residual Surface Compression
Abstract
The primary objective of this project was to maximize the compressive strengthening obtained in low loss fibers made by the molecular stuffing process. The process being the doping of a porous high silica glass rod made by a phase separation and leaching process. The rod is subsequently sintered to form a solid glass preform form which fibers may be drawn. The ultimate goal being a fiber having greater than 100 ksi surface compression and loss less than 10 dB/km. As a major part of this effort we have characterized the strengthening effects of compression and demonstrated that even moderate compression can be of value in many applications. Optical losses less than 10 dB/km are obtainable using molecular stuffing and we were able to produce preforms having greater than 75 ksi compression. Preforms and fibers having very high compression are difficult to produce and thus may not provide a practical method of dramatically increasing fiber strength. Surface compression on the order of 30 ksi is relatively easy to obtain, however, and compression of this magnitude can have significant effects on fatigue failure in many applications. We were able to demonstrate that fibers having surface compression showed no strength degradation when aged under load in air as long as the tensile load was less in magnitude than that of the compression. In fact, the strength of abraded samples was observed to improve with time.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1979
- Accession Number
- ADA078296
Entities
People
- H. Hojaji
- N. Lagakos
- O. H. El-bayoumi
- P. Klocek
- R. K. Mohr
Organizations
- The Catholic University of America