Long-term reliability assurance for arc-fusion spliced fiber

• Published in: Electronics & communications in Japan. Part 1, Communications Vol. 68; no. 2; pp. 73 - 81
• Main Authors: Matsumoto, Michito, Haibara, Tadashi, Katsuyama, Yutaka, Tokuda, Masamitsu, Members, Tadatoshi Tanifuji, Regular, Member, Mitsuru Miyauchi, Regular
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.02.1985
• ISSN: 8756-6621; 1520-6424
• DOI: 10.1002/ecja.4410680210

The technology of low‐loss splicing for optical fibers is well established, but the long‐term reliability assurance of splices has not been studied sufficiently. With the wide introduction of optical cables much effort is being devoted to improve the reliability of arc‐fusion splicing and to estimate its lifetime. In this paper, improvement of the reliability of arc‐fusion splices by proof test is studied theoretically as well as experimentally and optimum conditions to assure long‐term reliability are established. As a result: (1) proof test theory can be applied to the arc‐fusion splice and it is possible to estimate the lifetime by knowing the values of parameters n and m; (2) the effect of proof testing is greatly dependent on proof stress as compared to proof time; (3) it is shown that the 20‐year failure probability can be suppressed below 10‐5 by applying proof stress of 0.15 GPa to the spliced fiber before being reinforced by the heat‐shrinkable tube method.