Six common materials in fiber optic cable construction

There are mainly six common materials in fiber optic cable construction. Before you buy fiber optic cable, you should think about this. Here are the fiber optic cable materials with the introduction of their features and applications.

1. PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride)

Features:
1) Good resistance to environmental effects. Some formulations are rated for -55 to +55.
2) Good flame retardant properties. Can be used for both outdoor and indoor fiber optic cables.
3) PVC is less flexible than PE (Polyethylene) .

2. PE (Polyethylene)

Features:
1) Popular cable jacket material for outdoor fiber cables
2) Very good moisture and weather resistance properties
3) Very good insulator
4) Can be very stiff in colder temperatures
5) If treated with proper chemicals, PE can be flame retardant.

3. Fluoropolymers

Features:
1) Good flame-resistance properties
2) Low smoke properties
3) Good flexibility
4) Most often used for indoor fiber cables

4. Kevlar (Aramid Yarn)
Aramid yarn is the yellow fiber type material found inside cable jacket surrounding the fibers. It can also be used as central strength members.

Features:
1) Aramid yarn is very strong and is used in bundle to protect the fibers.
2) Kevlar is a brand of aramid yarn. Kevlar is often used as the central strength member on fiber cables which must withstand high pulling tension during installation.
3) When Kevlar is placed surrounding the entire cable interior, it provides additional protection for the fibers from the environment.

5. Steel Armor
Steel armor jacket is often used on direct burial outdoor cables and it provides excellent crush resistance and is truly rodent-proof. Since steel is a conductor, steel armored cables have to be properly grounded and loss fiber optic cable’s dielectric advantage.

Applications:
1) Outdoor direct burial cables
2) Fiber cables used for industrial environment where cables are installed without conduits or cable tray protection

Features:
1) Provides excellent crush resistance for outdoor direct burial cables
2) Protects cables from rodent biting
3) Decreases water ingress into the fiber which prolongs the fiber cable’s life expectancy

6. Central Strength Member
For large fiber count cables, a central strength member is often used. The central strength member provides strength and support to the cable. During fiber optic cable installation, pulling eyes should always be attached to the central strength member and never to the fibers. On fiber splice enclosure and patch panel installations, the cable central strength member should be attached to the strength member anchor on the enclosure or patch panel.

About the author:
Fiberstore is an expert on fiber optic technologies and products. Learn even more about plastic optical fiber and fiber optic pigtail on www.FiberStore.com.

What is Fiber Optic Pigtail

Fiber optic pigtail is a fiber cable end with fiber optic connectors at only either side of the cable while leaving sleep issues no connectors, so the connector side could be from the equipment and the other part can be melted with optical cable fibers.

Fiber optic pigtails are utilized to achieve accurate mounting for precision alignment of fiber optical components. They're usually used with fiber optic management equipment like ODF, splice closures and cross cabinets.

A fiber pigtail is really a single, short, usually unbuffered, optical fiber which has an optical connector pre-installed on one end along with a period of exposed fiber in the other end. The end of the pigtail is stripped and fusion spliced to a single fiber of a multi-fiber trunk. Splicing of pigtails to each fiber within the trunk "breaks out" the multi-fiber cable into its component fibers for connection to the end equipment.

Fiber pigtails can have female or male connectors. Female connectors might be mounted in a patch panel, often in pairs although single-fiber solutions exist, to allow them to be connected to endpoints or other fiber runs with patch fibers. Alternatively they can have male connectors and plug directly into an optical transceiver.

As the fibers must have connectors fitted before they can affix to other equipment. Fiber pigtails may be one of the common solutions for fiber cable termination, the inclusion of connectors to every optical fiber in a cable.

FiberStore supplies 10G 50/125, 62.5/125, 50/125 multimode optic pigtail with SC, ST, FC, LC MT-RJ, SC/APC, FC/APC, E2000 fiber optic connectors. Fan-out fiber optic pigtail is really a multi fiber cable assembly. It is almost always made from a multi fiber count cable, in the center of which we make use of the splitting kits to help make the fan-out pigtails. Such cable is usually 1XN structure, like MTP to 12 LC. Sometimes there's also NXN types, like 12LC to 12LC. Usually the simplex fiber optic pigtails that used inside management equipment use 0.9mm outer diameter cable. There is waterproof fiber optic pigtails employed for outdoor applications. This fiber optic pigtail is by using thick PE jacket and large diameter. For example, ribbon fan-out patch cord provides a stable and reliable connection for single mode fiber.