Optical fiber cable having dripless, non-bleeding and optical fiber coating-compatible waterblocking material in core thereof
First Claim
1. An optical fiber cable, said optical fiber cable comprising:
- a core comprising at least one optical fiber transmission medium;
a sheath system which is disposed about said core; and
a filling composition of matter which is disposed in said core, said filling composition of matter comprising at least about 85 percent by weight of an aliphatic hydrocarbon having a molecular weight of at least about 600, a thickening system which includes an inorganic constituent and a block copolymer and a relatively high amount of an antioxidant system.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An optical fiber cable (20) includes a core which (22) is filled with a filling material (26) comprising a composition of matter which passes industry wide drip tests, which substantially has no oil separation and which has excellent thermal oxidative stability. The filling composition includes a relatively high molecular weight aliphatic hydrocarbon which may be a polyalphaolefin, for example, or a relatively high molecular weight mineral oil. Also included in the composition of the filling material is a fumed silica, a block copolymer and a relatively high amount of an antioxidant system. Swelling of coating materials for optical fibers (25,25) which are relatively soft and which are in contact with the filling material is substantially less than that experienced with prior art filling materials. Because of the inclusion of a low pour point aliphatic hydrocarbon in the filling material, the cable provides excellent optical performance at low temperatures.
54 Citations
18 Claims
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1. An optical fiber cable, said optical fiber cable comprising:
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a core comprising at least one optical fiber transmission medium; a sheath system which is disposed about said core; and a filling composition of matter which is disposed in said core, said filling composition of matter comprising at least about 85 percent by weight of an aliphatic hydrocarbon having a molecular weight of at least about 600, a thickening system which includes an inorganic constituent and a block copolymer and a relatively high amount of an antioxidant system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A composition of matter which is suitable for filling optical fiber cables, said composition including:
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at least 85 percent by weight of an aliphatic hydrocarbon constituent having a molecular weight of at least about 600; an inorganic thickening agent; a block copolymer; and a relatively high amount of antioxidant system. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification