The demand for plastic optical fiber is increasing rapidly
After years of hard work, Chinese scientists have finally overcome the technical difficulties of directly producing polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) mutant plastic optical fibers from bulk polymerization, and have mastered the technology of mass continuous production of plastic optical fibers. The Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has produced millions of meters of low-loss mutant plastic optical fibers, breaking the monopoly of Japanese companies in the world.
In recent years, the global demand for plastic optical fiber has increased rapidly. In 2005, the international sales of PMMA plastic optical fiber has reached billions of dollars. The low-loss PMMA plastic optical fiber suitable for data transmission is currently only produced by Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan. Every year, my country imports a large amount of PMMA plastic optical fiber from Japan.
The project leaders Zhen Zhen and Researcher Liu Xinhou introduced that the Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has mastered the complete set of technologies for the purification of raw materials and direct fiber drawing through bulk polymerization. Its core technology is the preparation technology of high-purity fiber-grade PMMA optical molding compound (core material) and skin material. During the development process, the Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has successively developed a new technology for purification of single-molecule diffusion transfer materials with independent intellectual property rights, and the bulk polymerization of flat-push thin-layer tubular and twin-screw composite systems to prepare high-purity fiber-grade PMMA materials and The matching cladding material technology has successfully solved the related problems of industrialization.
At present, the institute has successfully developed a fully automatic assembly line with a daily output of 100,000 meters of PMMA plastic optical fiber, and has produced PMMA optical fiber with an optical attenuation of 170-200dB/km for several months, and has produced millions of meters of low-loss plastic optical fiber, indicating this Industrialization technology has matured. At the same time, the institute also has the potential to mass-produce step-type PMMA fibers with an optical attenuation of 150dB/km, and the product technical indicators have reached the best level of similar products in the world. The advent of low-attenuation PMMA fiber continuous mass production technology marks my country's ranking among the world's advanced in this field.
The development of today's information technology urgently needs optical fiber materials with large information capacity, and the requirements for communication network bandwidth are getting higher and higher. Plastic optical fiber has the advantages of large core diameter, soft texture, easy connection, light weight, low price, and large transmission bandwidth. It is used in broadband access network systems, home intelligent network systems, data transmission systems, automotive intelligent systems, industrial control systems, and textiles. , Lighting, solar energy utilization systems and other aspects of the application market potential is huge.
