Preliminary evaluation of producing polymer cladding on glass fiber designated for fiber lasers
Piotr Olesik, Mateusz Kozioł, Bartłomiej Toroń, Piotr Szperlich
Quarterly No. 3, 2018 pages 140-144
DOI:
keywords: optical fibre, fibre laser, thin films, polymer resin, polymer cladding
abstract The paper presents a description of preliminary trials of covering glass-ceramic fibers with polymer resins intended for new fiber optics claddings. It occurred to be impossible to obtain a polymer film on the fibers without the effect of forming droplets using an epoxy resin with a relatively low viscosity (0.58 Pa•s). Reducing the thickness of the applied film by immersing the initially covered fiber ina solvent allowed the authors to obtain a uniform thin coat of 0.25 μm, which is too small for the practical application. Applying a gel-coat (high viscosity) as a covering liquid allowed a high thickness coating to be obtained. However, the thickness was very inhomogeneous - it varied from 2 to 30 μm. The most promising coating was gained with an acetone-based dispersion of ceramic powders with a viscosity of 0.8 Pa•s. It allowed the authors to obtain a coating thick enough to be technically applicable (> 10 mm), without the presence of droplets. This is an important guideline for further work on obtaining claddings for new optical fibers. The obtained results show the importance of viscosity and internal cohesion of the applied liquid for the effectiveness of its application to a solid base. Modifying the viscosity of liquids can in many cases be a technically simpler solution than improving wettability between the liquid and the given base.