Optical fiber with an improved primary coating composition
First Claim
1. A coated optical fiber comprising:
- an optical fiber and a radiation cured coating, wherein the radiation cured coating on the optical fiber comprises an oligomer wherein the oligomer is formed from a reaction comprising a polyol having “
m”
hydroxyl functional groups, wherein “
n”
hydroxyl groups of said polyol are terminated in forming the oligomer and “
m”
is greater than “
n”
.
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Abstract
The present invention is directed to a radiation curable primary coating composition and an optical fiber with said coating. The primary coating preferably results in excellent mechanical and physical properties, and when coated on optical fibers in a reduction in micro-bending transmission losses over optical fibers with conventional coatings. In one embodiment of this invention, it relates to a coated optical fiber comprising an optical fiber and a radiation cured primary coating wherein the radiation cured primary coating on the optical fiber comprises an oligomer and wherein the oligomer is formed from a reaction comprising a polyol having “m” hydroxyl functional groups, wherein “n” hydroxyl groups of said polyol are terminated in forming the oligomer and “m” is greater than “n”.
54 Citations
53 Claims
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1. A coated optical fiber comprising:
an optical fiber and a radiation cured coating, wherein the radiation cured coating on the optical fiber comprises an oligomer wherein the oligomer is formed from a reaction comprising a polyol having “
m”
hydroxyl functional groups, wherein “
n”
hydroxyl groups of said polyol are terminated in forming the oligomer and “
m”
is greater than “
n”
.- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A coated optical fiber comprising:
an optical fiber, a radiation cured primary coating and a radiation cured secondary coating, wherein the radiation cured primary coating comprises an oligomer wherein the oligomer is formed from a reaction comprising a polyol having “
m”
hydroxyl functional groups, wherein “
n”
hydroxyl groups of said polyol are terminated in forming the oligomer and “
m”
is greater than “
n”
, and has a Tg of less than about −
30°
C., a Young'"'"'s modulus of less than about 1.0 MPa, a tensile strength of at least 50% of the modulus and an elongation to break of at least about 100%.- View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A coated optical fiber comprising:
-
an optical fiber, a radiation cured primary coating and a radiation cured secondary coating wherein the radiation cured primary coating is the cured product of a bulk composition comprising;
an acrylated urethane oligomer, an ethylenically unsaturated monomer and a photoinitiator;
wherein the oligomer is formed from a reaction comprising a polyol having “
m”
hydroxyl functional groups, wherein “
n”
hydroxyl groups of said polyol are terminated in forming the oligomer and “
m”
is greater than “
n”
, and said polyol has a number average molecular weight of at least 4000 Daltons;
wherein the ethylenically unsaturated monomer has an number average molecular weight of less than about 1000 Daltons;
wherein the radiation cured primary coating has a Young'"'"'s modulus of less than about 1.0 MPa, a Tg of less than about −
30°
C., an elongation to break of at least about 100%, and a tensile strength of at least 50% of the Young'"'"'s modulus; and
wherein the cured radiation curable secondary coating has a Young'"'"'s modulus of greater than about 600 MPa. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A coated optical fiber comprising:
-
an optical fiber, a radiation cured primary coating comprising an oligomer, wherein the oligomer is formed from a reaction comprising a polyol having “
m”
hydroxyl functional groups, wherein “
n”
hydroxyl groups of said polyol are terminated in forming the oligomer and “
m”
is greater than “
n” and
a radiation cured secondary coating wherein the coated optical fiber has a micro-bend attenuation as measured by the LLWM test of less than about 0.3 dB/m at a wavelength of 1310 nm, of less than about 0.35 dB/m at a wavelength of 1550 nm, and of less than about 0.55 dB/m at a wavelength of 1625 nm. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A method of coating an optical fiber comprising the steps of:
-
(a) drawing an optical fiber comprising a core and a cladding;
(b) coating the optical fiber with a radiation curable coating comprising an oligomer, wherein the oligomer is formed from a reaction comprising a polyol having “
m”
hydroxyl functional groups, wherein “
n”
hydroxyl groups of said polyol are terminated in forming the oligomer and “
m”
is greater than “
n”
; and
(c) irradiating the optical fiber at a dose level of from about 0.5 J/cm2 to about 1.0 J/cm2;
wherein the coated optical fiber has a micro-bend attenuation as measured by the LLWM test of less than about 0.3 dB/m at a wavelength of 1310 nm, of less than about 0.35 dB/m at a wavelength of 1550 nm, and of less than about 0.55 dB/m at a wavelength of 1625 nm. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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Specification