Coated optical fiber and optical fiber coating system including a fast-gelling primary coating
AssigneeCorning Incorporated
InventorsLinda S. Baker, Kevin R. McCarthy, Michael J. Winningham, Lung-Ming Wu
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Abstract
The present invention provides optical fiber coating systems and coated optical fibers. According to one embodiment of the invention, a coated optical fiber includes an optical fiber having a core and a cladding; and a primary coating encapsulating the optical fiber, the primary coating having a Young's modulus of about 5 MPa or less, the primary coating being the cured reaction product of a primary curable composition having a gel time less than about 1.4 seconds at a UV intensity of 3.4 mW/cm2.
Claims24
A coated optical fiber comprising:
- an optical fiber having a core and a cladding;
- and
- a primary coating encapsulating the optical fiber, the primary coating having a Young's modulus of about 5 MPa or less, the primary coating being the cured reaction product of a primary curable composition having a gel time less than about 1.4 seconds at a UV intensity of 3.4 mW/cm2.
A method for coating an optical fiber comprising the steps of:
- providing a bare optical fiber;
- coating the optical fiber with a primary curable composition having a gel time less than about 1.4 seconds at a UV intensity of 3.4 mW/cm2;
- and
- curing the primary curable composition to form a primary coating encapsulating the optical fiber, the primary coating having a Young's modulus less than about 5 MPa.
A curable composition having a gel time less than about 1.4 seconds at a UV intensity of 3.4 mW/cm2, wherein a substantially cured reaction product of the curable composition has a Young's modulus less than about 5 MPa.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.