Polymeric optical fibers applications

Seim, B., et al., 2010. Polymeric optical fiber fabrics for illumination and sensorial applications in textiles. Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures 21 (11), 1061—1071. Available at http //jim.sagepub.eom/cgi/doi/10.1177/1045389X10377676 (accessed 22.09.14.). 

Light wave technologies provide a number of special challenges for polymeric materials. Polymer fibers offer the best potential for optical communications in local area network (LAN) applications, because their large core size makes it relatively cheap to attach connectors to them. There is a need for polymer fibers that have low losses and that can transmit the bandwidths needed for LAN applications the aciylate and methacrylate polymers now under study have poor loss and bandwidth performance. Research on monomer purification, polymerization to precise molecular-size distributions, and weU-controlled drawing processes is relevant here. There is also a need for precision plastic molding processes for mass prodnction of optical fiber connectors and splice hardware. A tenfold reduction in the cost of fiber and related devices is necessaiy to make the utilization of optical fiber and related devices economical for local area networks and tlie telecommunications loop. 

Zeolites have been incorporated into and attached to fibers of various compositions for a number of applications. The types of fibers that have been used include glass [105], polymers by addition to the monomer prior to polymerization [106], optical fibers [107], cellulose pulp [108] and self-supported hoUow zeoHte fibers by a templating route [109]. 

Photopolymerization and photocrosslinking processes have been in use for many years in the electronics industry, for example in the making of printed circuit boards and in the fixation of color dots in TV tubes. More recent applications of light-induced chain crosslinking polymerization processes are the replication of optical discs (1,2) of aspherical lenses (3,4) and the in-line coating of optical fibers (5,6). 

Of a large number of possible fluorinated acrylates, the homopolymers and copolymers of fluoroalkyl acrylates and methacrylates are the most suitable for practical applications. They are used in the manufacture of plastic lightguides (optical fibers) resists water-, oil-, and dirt-repellent coatings and other advanced applications [14]. Several rather complex methods to prepare the a-fluoroalkyl monomers (e.g., a-phenyl fluoroacrylates, a-(trifluoromethyl) acrylic and its esters, esters of perfluoromethacrylic acid) exist and are discussed in some detail in [14]. Generally, a-fluoroacrylates polymerize more readily than corresponding nonfluorinated acrylates and methacrylates, mostly by free radical mechanism [15], Copolymerization of fluoroacrylates has been carried out in bulk, solution, or emulsion initiated with peroxides, azobisisobutyronitrile, or y-irradiation [16]. Fluoroalkyl methacrylates and acrylates also polymerize by anionic mechanism, but the polymerization rates are considerably slower than those of radical polymerization [17]. 

The second patent [94] does not give further information about the synthesis but describes an application of these products — UV curing of coatings for optical fibers. Telechelics diols are used as coreagents for cationic polymerization of epoxy resins. Such coatings are composed of ... 

The alcoholates are firstly hydrolyzed and obtained hydroxides being polycon-densated then. The ceramics from the inorganic 3D net is formed as a result. Also the method of synthesis exists in which the polymerization and the formation of the inorganic glass happen simultaneously. The application of the nanocomposites on the basis of ceramics and polymers as special hard defensive coverage and like optic fibers [53] is possible. 

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