Mechanical strength of silica fiber splices after exposure to extreme temperatures

Perry, Marcus and Niewczas, Pawel and Johnston, Michael and Cook, Kevin and Canning, John; (2012) Mechanical strength of silica fiber splices after exposure to extreme temperatures. In: OFS2012 22nd International Conference on Optical Fiber Sensors. SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering.. (https://doi.org/10.1117/12.965872)

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Abstract

By using a combination of type-I and regenerated gratings, the mechanical strength of optical fiber splices after exposure to temperatures over 1300 C was characterized. Splice strength was found to decrease with temperature with a secondorder polynomial dependence after exposure to environments hotter than 500 C. Splices exposed to temperatures above 1300 C were 80% more fragile than non-exposed splices. The lack of optical attenuation and the narrowing distribution of breaking strengths for higher temperatures suggest surface damage mechanisms, such as hydrolysis, play a key role in weakening post-heating and that damage mechanisms dominate over strengthening induced by crack melting.

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