Optical fiber coating compositions with non-curable reinforcing agents

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9505655-B2
Application number	US-201414248692-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 9, 2014
Priority date	May 17, 2013
Publication date	Nov 29, 2016
Grant date	Nov 29, 2016

Abstract

A coating composition including a reinforcing agent. The coating composition may include one or more radiation-curable monofunctional monomers, one or more radiation-curable multifunctional monomers or oligomers, a photoinitiator, and a reinforcing agent. The monofunctional monomers, multifunctional monomers, and multifunctional oligomers may include acrylate groups. The reinforcing agent may be an acrylic co-polymer that includes two or more repeat units. At least one of the repeat units includes chemical groups that enable self-association of the acrylic co-polymer. Self-association of the acrylic co-polymer may improve the tensile strength of coatings formed from the coating compositions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical fiber coating composition comprising:
a radiation-curable monomer;
a photoinitiator; and
an acrylic co-polymer, said acrylic co-polymer including a first repeat unit derived from a (meth)acrylate monomer and a second repeat unit derived from an ethylenically unsaturated monomer, said (meth)acrylate and ethylenically unsaturated monomers differing in chemical composition, said acrylic co-polymer lacking a radiation-curable group.

2. The coating composition of claim 1 , wherein said radiation-curable monomer includes a (meth)acrylate monomer.

3. The coating composition of claim 1 , wherein said radiation-curable monomer includes a multifunctional (meth)acrylate monomer.

4. The coating composition of claim 3 , wherein said multifunctional (meth)acrylate monomer includes a polyol di(meth)acrylate.

5. The coating composition of claim 1 , wherein said radiation-curable monomer lacks groups capable of reacting to form urethane linkages.

6. The coating composition of claim 1 , wherein said ethylenically unsaturated monomer includes a hydrogen bond donor group.

7. The coating composition of claim 6 , wherein said ethylenically unsaturated monomer further includes a hydrogen bond acceptor group.

8. The coating composition of claim 7 , wherein said hydrogen bond donor group is an N—H group, an O—H group, or a —CO 2 H group.

9. The coating composition of claim 8 , wherein said hydrogen bond acceptor group is a carbonyl group.

10. The coating composition of claim 7 , wherein said (meth)acrylate monomer lacks a hydrogen bond donor group.

11. The coating composition of claim 1 , wherein said ethylenically unsaturated monomer is acrylamide, an N-substituted acrylamide, or vinylphenol.

12. The coating composition of claim 11 , wherein said N-substituted acrylamide is selected from the group consisting of N-(Butoxymethylmethyl)acrylamide, N-Isopropylacrylamide, N-Butylacrylamide, and N-Dodecylacrylamide.

13. The coating composition of claim 11 , wherein said (meth)acrylate monomer is methylmethacrylate, methyl acrylate, butyl acrylate, lauryl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate, ethoxylated nonylphenol acrylate, or caprolactone acrylate.

14. The coating composition of claim 1 , wherein said ethylenically unsaturated monomer lacks a (meth)acrylate group.

15. The coating composition of claim 1 , wherein said acrylic co-polymer lacks a urethane linkage.

16. The coating composition of claim 1 , wherein said acrylic co-polymer has a molecular weight between 1500 g/mol and 150,000 g/mol.

17. The coating composition of claim 1 , wherein said acrylic co-polymer has a glass transition temperature less than or equal to 0° C.

18. The coating composition of claim 1 , further comprising a radiation-curable oligomer.

19. The coating composition of claim 18 , wherein said radiation-curable oligomer lacks urethane linkages.

20. The coating composition of claim 1 , wherein said radiation-curable monomer includes one or more monofunctional (meth)acrylate monomers and one or more multifunctional (meth)acrylate monomers or oligomers, said one or more monofunctional (meth)acrylate monomers being present in said coating composition in an amount ranging from 5-80 wt % and said one or more multifunctional (meth)acrylate monomers being present in said coating composition in an amount ranging from 5-40 wt %.

21. The coating composition of claim 20 , wherein said acrylic co-polymer is present in said coating composition in an amount ranging from 5-40 wt %.

22. The coating composition of claim 1 , wherein said acrylic co-polymer self-associates through hydrogen bonding interactions.

23. A coating formed by curing the coating composition of claim 1 .

24. The coating of claim 23 , wherein the coating lacks urethane groups.

25. An optical fiber coated with the cured product of claim 1 .

26. A process of coating an optical fiber comprising:
providing an optical fiber;
applying a coating composition to said optical fiber, said coating composition comprising:
a radiation-curable monomer;
a photoinitiator; and
an acrylic co-polymer, said co-polymer including a first repeat unit derived from a (meth)acrylate monomer and a second repeat unit derived from an ethylenically unsaturated monomer, said (meth)acrylate and ethylenically unsaturated monomers differing in chemical composition, said acrylic co-polymer lacking a radiation-curable group.

Assignees

• Corning Inc

Inventors

• Bookbinder Dana Craig
• Fabian Michelle Dawn
• Mccarthy Kevin Robert
• Niu Weijun
• Schissel David Neal
• Winningham Michael James

Classifications

• C09D4/06

  {Organic non-macromolecular compounds having at least one polymerisable carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bond} in combination with a macromolecular compound other than an unsaturated polymer of groups C09D159/00 - C09D187/00 · CPC title

• C03C25/106 Primary

  Single coatings · CPC title

• 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

• G02B1/045 Primary

  Light guides · CPC title

• C08F220/54

  Amides {, e.g. N,N-dimethylacrylamide or N-isopropylacrylamide} · CPC title