Production principle and technology of plastic optical fiber

Production principle and technology of plastic optical fiber

Today, the two methods used to make plastic fibers, extrusion and interfacial gel, evolved from plastic manufacturing processes.

Extrusion method is mainly used to fabricate plastic fiber with step index distribution. The process steps are roughly as follows: First of all, are regarded as the core of methyl methyl propylene monomer methyl methyl propylene by vacuum distillation after purification, together with the polymerization initiator and chain transfer agent to polymerization in the container, then put the container in the electric heating in the oven, placed a certain time, so that the monomer polymerization, completely in the end, will have complete polymerization of methyl methyl acrylic container heating to drawing temperature, Step type plastic fiber is made by pressurizing the molten polymer from the upper end of the container with dry nitrogen. A plastic fiber core is extruded from the small nozzle at the bottom of the container, and then a layer of polymer with low refractive index is coated outside the extruded fiber core.

The manufacturing method of plastic fiber with gradient refractive index distribution is interface gel method, and the process steps of interface gel method are roughly as follows: High refractive index of the dopant in core monomer mixture made in the core, secondly the control rate of polymerization, polymer molecular weight, size of initiator and chain transfer agent into the core of mixed solution, then the solution into a chosen for cladding materials of methyl methyl acrylic (PMMA) hollow tube, the final will be equipped with core mixture PMMA tube placed in the oven, Polymerization under certain temperature and conditions. During the polymerization process, the PMMA tube is gradually swollen by the mixed solution, so that the gel phase is formed in the inner wall of the PMMA tube. The polymer thickness gradually thickens and the polymerization terminates at the center of PMMA tube, thus obtaining a fiber prefabricated rod with refractive index gradient distribution along the radial direction. Finally, the plastic fiber prefabricated rod is sent into heating。