Fatigue parameter change of optical fiber with temperature variation
Résumé
Besides signal transmission for telecommunications, optical fibers are used in an increasing number of devices. A number of applications relate to devices exposed to severe wet environment (hot water, chemical attacks, etc.). Fiber failure is an irreversible accident which may occur when an external stress is applied on a defect located on the fiber surface. External environment as humidity and water is a major factor for the crack propagation on the fiber glass surface because it facilitates the breaking of the silica bonds of the fiber cladding. Water influence becomes more damaging when the water is brought to a high temperature. In this work, new silica optical fibers wounded around ceramic mandrels with different diameters and aged in hot water were tested to obtain the fatigue parameter changes. Temperature dependence of failure time, the stress corrosion parameter versus temperature and the activation energy change were analyzed to obtain an aging behavior law. On the other hand, Weibull distribution showed the temperature had an important role of optical fiber strength weakening. © 2021, Cefin Publishing House. All rights reserved.