Basic Requirements for Optical Fiber and Cable Manufacturing Processes

The manufacturing process for optical cables must be simple and reliable. Given the characteristics of optical cables, the following requirements must be met:

1. Strictly control the effects of pay-off and take-up tension on the optical fibers to ensure that the fibers remain unbroken during manufacturing, and that the stress and residual stress on the fibers are minimized;

2. Strictly control microbend attenuation caused by mechanical forces during manufacturing to ensure it does not affect the transmission performance of the optical fibers;

3. Select appropriate plastic extrusion processes to avoid micro-bend attenuation caused by thermal shrinkage of the plastic due to improper processing, thereby ensuring the optical cable maintains long-term stable transmission performance.

4. The outer sheath of an optical cable enhances its resistance to lateral pressure and tensile force, as well as providing moisture-proof sealing. Currently, there are eight main types of optical cable outer sheath structures in China:

(1) Simple polyethylene (PE) sheath structure;

(2) Aluminum/polyethylene composite longitudinal adhesive sheath (LAP) structure;

(3) Corrugated steel tape longitudinal overlap with PE sheath structure;

(4) Aluminum/polyethylene composite longitudinal adhesive sheath with corrugated steel tape overlap followed by PE sheath overlap;

(5) Aluminum/polyethylene composite longitudinal adhesive sheath with steel tape longitudinal wrapping followed by PE sheath overlap;

(6) Aluminum/polyethylene composite longitudinal adhesive protective layer with corrugated steel tape longitudinal wrapping and PE protective layer overlap;

(7) Aluminum/polyethylene composite longitudinal adhesive protective layer with steel wire armor and PE protective layer overlap;

(8) Aluminum tube/armor/PE protective layer composite sheath structure.