Extrusion process for small-diameter fiber cable made of liquid-crystal polymer

A technique for making the small-diameter cable by the extrusion process is proposed. The foundational features of liquid-crystal polymers (LCPs) are described. The results indicate that LCPs are the ideal extrusion materials for optical fiber cables with small diameter. According to the feathers of LCP, extrusion process parameters of small-diameter cable are studied and the process flow is given. A small-diameter cable with outside diameter of 0.45 mm was manufactured with the extrusion process and its properties were analyzed. The test results show that the extrusion process hardly introduces any addition loss to the cable and the addition loss of the cable is almost zero at -60℃ to 80℃.