Ultraviolet (UV) light is used in the manufacturing process for optical fiber. The UV curing process is used to form a polymer layer that is applied to provide protection, flexibility and strength to the fiber.
UV curable inks are applied to the finished fibers for color coding and identification purposes. The UV-curing process provides instant curing, resulting in optimized production speeds. The finished colors are not susceptible to degradation from the cabling gels used to manufacture multi-fiber cables. For cable manufacturing, UV inks also offer superior abrasion resistance.
The matrix material used to bond fibers into a ribbon cable is UV curable. Some ribbon manufacturing machines can color and make ribbon cables in a single UV-curable process.
UV curing is used in several ways in the final manufacturing of optical fiber cabling, including up-jacketing and outside marking for identification. Rapid processing and abrasion resistance are among the key advantages of UV curing.
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