Lifetime prediction for the optical fiber in guidance optical cable

The basic theory and methods about dynamic fatigue test and screen test are introduced. The fatigue experimentation for the optical fiber was made with these methods on an electronic material function test machine under the room temperature. The result proves that the lifetime of guidance optical fiber may exceed a decade when the strain is less than 850 g, and the values of the Weibull parameter (md) and the fatigue parameter (nd) have their effects on the fiber lifetime. The experiments indicate that the dynamic fatigue test model fits for the prediction of the guidance fiber lifetime and the screen test model is suited for the communication fiber lifetime because fibers’lifetime depends heavily on their applications. If long lifetime and reliability need to be obtained, the antifatigue factor nd must be increased and the stress of the fiber in cable must be reduced.