Method of applying an ink layer onto an optical fiber

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10501370-B2
Application number	US-201816184069-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 8, 2018
Priority date	Dec 7, 2017
Publication date	Dec 10, 2019
Grant date	Dec 10, 2019

Abstract

An optical fiber and its manufacture are provided. The optical fiber includes an optical waveguide and a cured primary coating layer surrounding the optical waveguide. The optical fiber further includes a cured secondary coating layer surrounding the cured primary coating layer. The optical fiber further includes a cured tertiary ink coating layer surrounding the cured secondary coating layer. The cured tertiary ink coating layer has a glass transition temperature (Tg-ink) of greater than or equal to 75° C.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical fiber comprising:
an optical waveguide; and
a cured secondary coating layer surrounding the optical waveguide, the cured secondary coating layer having a glass transition temperature (T g-sec ) that is greater than or equal to 75° C.; and
a cured ink coating layer surrounding the secondary coating layer;
wherein the cured ink coating layer comprises a coloring agent and has a glass transition temperature (T g-ink ) greater than or equal to 75° C.

2. The optical fiber of claim 1 , wherein the glass transition temperature (T g-ink ) of the cured ink coating layer is greater than or equal to 90° C.

3. The optical fiber of claim 1 , wherein the cured secondary coating layer has a glass transition temperature (T g-sec ) that is greater than or equal to 75° C. and less than or equal to 120° C.

4. The optical fiber of claim 1 , further comprising a cured primary coating layer surrounding the optical waveguide, wherein the cured secondary coating layer surrounds the cured primary coating layer.

5. An optical fiber comprising:
an optical waveguide;
a cured primary coating layer surrounding the optical waveguide;
a cured secondary coating layer surrounding the cured primary coating layer wherein the cured secondary coating layer has a glass transition temperature (T g-sec ) greater than or equal to 75° C.; and
a cured tertiary ink coating layer surrounding the cured secondary coating layer, the cured tertiary ink coating layer comprising a coloring agent, wherein the cured tertiary ink coating layer has a glass transition temperature (T g-ink ) of greater than or equal to 75° C.

6. The optical fiber of claim 5 , wherein the glass transition temperature (T g-ink ) is less than or equal to 120° C.

7. The optical fiber of claim 5 , wherein the glass transition temperature (T g-sec ) is less than or equal to 120° C.

8. A method for manufacturing an optical fiber, the method comprising:
drawing an optical waveguide from a glass preform at a rate greater than 30 m/s, the drawing comprising:
applying a first coating material to surround the optical waveguide;
curing the first coating material to form a cured first coating layer;
applying an ink coating material to surround the cured first coating layer, the ink layer coating material comprising a coloring agent, the cured first coating layer having a temperature (T sec ) greater than or equal to 50° C. during the applying ink coating material; and
curing the ink coating material to form a cured ink coating layer, the cured ink coating layer having a glass transition temperature (T g-ink ) greater than or equal to 75° C.;

wherein the temperature of the cured first coating layer (T sec ) is less than or equal to T g-ink +40° C.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first coating material comprises an acrylate compound.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the temperature of the cured first coating layer (T sec ) is less than or equal to T g-ink +20° C.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the temperature of the cured first coating layer (T sec ) is less than or equal to T g-ink .

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the ink layer material has a heat of cure reaction (ΔH r×n ) less than −70 J/g.

13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
applying a second coating material to surround the optical waveguide; and
curing the second coating material to form a cured second coating layer;
wherein the cured first coating layer surrounds the cured second coating layer.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the second coating material has a heat of cure reaction (ΔH r×n ) less than −70 J/g.

15. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first coating material has a heat of cure reaction (ΔH r×n ) less than −80 J/g.

16. The method of claim 8 , wherein the cured first coating layer has a glass transition temperature (T g-sec ) greater than or equal to 65° C.

17. The method of claim 8 , wherein the optical waveguide is drawn at a rate greater than 40 m/s.

Assignees

• Corning Inc

Inventors

• Bookbinder Dana Craig
• Moore Robert Clark
• Stainer Darren Andrew
• Tandon Pushkar
• Tandon Ruchi
• Todt Michael James

Classifications

• G02B6/02395

  Glass optical fibre with a protective coating, e.g. two layer polymer coating deposited directly on a silica cladding surface during fibre manufacture (G02B6/02052, G02B6/02057, G02B6/024, G02B6/032, G02B6/105, G02B6/14 take precedence; coating on fibre gratings G02B6/02104; multilayer core or cladding G02B6/036; reinforcing splice joints G02B6/2558; optical cables, i.e. comprising protective structures external to the protective coating such as a jacket or plural coated optical fibres G02B6/44; coating of glass to obtain optical fibres C03C25/104) · CPC title

• C03C2217/78

  Coatings specially designed to be durable, e.g. scratch-resistant · CPC title

• G02B6/036

  core or cladding comprising multiple layers {(multicore optical fibres G02B6/02042; microstructured properties G02B6/02295; omniguide fibres G02B6/023)} · CPC title

• C03C25/285

  Acrylic resins · CPC title

• C03B37/025

  from reheated softened tubes, rods, fibres or filaments {, e.g. drawing fibres from preforms (draw-down of tubes, rods or preforms to reduced diameter preforms C03B37/0124)} · CPC title