Optical fiber cable with adhesion control layer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10330878-B2
Application number	US-201615069108-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 14, 2016
Priority date	Mar 19, 2015
Publication date	Jun 25, 2019
Grant date	Jun 25, 2019

Abstract

An optical communication cable and related systems and methods are provided. The cable includes an adhesion control material between a reinforcement sheet and a cable jacket. The adhesion control material includes a carrier fluid and a particulate material dispersed in the carrier fluid. The method includes extruding a polymer material over the wrapped sheet of reinforcement material to form a cable jacket, and the adhesion control material is located between an outer surface of the wrapped reinforcement sheet and an inner surface of the cable jacket.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of forming an optical communication cable, the method comprising:
providing a plurality of elongate optical transmission elements;
wrapping a sheet of reinforcement material around the plurality of elongate optical transmission elements such that the plurality of elongate optical transmission elements are located within a channel defined by an inner surface of the wrapped sheet of reinforcement material;
applying an adhesion control material, including a carrier fluid and a particulate material dispersed in the carrier fluid, from an applicator onto an outer surface of the reinforcement material; and
extruding a polymer material over the wrapped sheet of reinforcement material to form a cable jacket, wherein the adhesion control material is located between an outer surface of the wrapped reinforcement sheet and an inner surface of the cable jacket.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the adhesion control material comprises between 1% and 40% particulate material and between 60% and 99% carrier fluid.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the carrier fluid is an oil and the particulate material is formed of particles having an average particle diameter between 1 micrometer and 200 micrometers.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the carrier fluid is ISO 32 hydraulic oil and the particulate material includes polypropylene particles having an average particle size between 10 micrometers and 30 micrometers.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the extruding step occurs at an extrusion temperature, wherein the extrusion temperature is higher than a melt temperature of the polypropylene particles.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the particulate material includes particles of at least one of nylon, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, polyamide, polyacrylic acid, fluoropolymers, polyglycols, polyphenylene oxide, polyvinyl alcohol, polyacrylonitrile, polyesters, polystyrene, polyacrylamide, polyimide, polysaccharide, polyanhydrides, polycarbonate, polymaleic acid, polyacetals, polyacrylates, polyethers, polyurethane, polysiloxanes, boron nitride, magnesium silicates, graphite, molybdenum disulfide and tungsten disulfide wherein the carrier fluid includes at least one of mineral oil, vegetable oil and silicon oil.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the adhesion control material is applied after wrapping of the reinforcement sheet.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the particulate material is a material different from the extruded polymer material of the cable jacket, and further where the particulate material is immiscible in the polymer material of the cable jacket, wherein the particulate material forms a barrier at the location of the particulate material limiting adhesion between the inner surface of the cable jacket and the outer surface of the reinforcement sheet.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reinforcement sheet comprises a corrugated sheet of metal material, and wherein the extruded polymer material of the cable jacket is a polyethylene.

10. An optical communication cable comprising:
an extruded cable body formed from a polymer material, the cable body having an inner surface defining a channel within the cable body;
an optical transmission element located within the channel;
a reinforcement sheet surrounding the optical transmission element; and
an adhesion control dispersion comprising a liquid carrier material and a plurality of particles dispersed within the carrier material, wherein at least some of the particles are positioned between the reinforcement sheet and the cable body such that at least some of the particles contact an outer surface of the reinforcement sheet and an inner surface of the cable body.

11. The optical communication cable of claim 10 , wherein at least a portion of the carrier material is absorbed into an inner section of the cable body, wherein the plurality of particles are formed from a material different from and immiscible with the polymer material of the cable body.

12. The optical communication cable of claim 10 , wherein the particles of the adhesion control dispersion are formed from a material having a density of less than 2.5 g/ml.

13. The optical communication cable of claim 10 , wherein the adhesion control dispersion acts to limit adhesion between the polymer material of the cable body and the outer surface of the reinforcement sheet such that a peel force required to separate half of the cable body from the reinforcement sheet is between 1 lbs and 20 lbs.

14. The optical communication cable of claim 10 , wherein the adhesion control dispersion comprises between 1% and 40% particles and between 60% and 99% carrier fluid.

15. The optical communication cable of claim 10 , wherein the liquid carrier material is an oil and the plurality of particles have an average particle diameter between 1 micrometer and 50 micrometers.

16. The optical communication cable of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of particles are polypropylene particles having an average particle size between 10 micrometers and 30 micrometers and a density between 0.85 g/ml and 0.95 g/ml, wherein the cable body is formed from a polyethylene material.

Assignees

• Corning Optical Communications LLC

Inventors

• Chawda Amit
• Chen Yangbin
• Chien Ching-Kee

Classifications

• G02B6/4488

  using metallic tubes · CPC title

• G02B6/4479 Primary

  Manufacturing methods of optical cables · CPC title

• G02B6/4429 Primary

  Means specially adapted for strengthening or protecting the cables · CPC title

• G02B6/4435

  Corrugated mantle · CPC title

• G02B6/44384

  the means comprising water blocking or hydrophobic materials (G02B6/4439, G02B6/4479 take precedence) · CPC title