Polishing of fiber optic connectors

Influences of nanoscale abrasive suspensions on the polishing of fiber-optic connectors

“…These include the surface chemistry effects that might modify the hardness, fracture and/or plasticity characteristics of the surface [6,7] and the nanomechanical abrasion in polishing. Given that the nanohardness values for the fiber glass and the zirconia ferrule are 9 GPa and 14 GPa [2], respectively, machining of these ceramics often involves diamond abrasives, which are much harder than most ceramics, in order to achieve material removal. However, diamond abrasives unavoidably induce microscratches in the machined ceramic surfaces [8][9][10].…”

“…In such abrasion processes, the silica suspension functioned to smooth the glass fiber and zirconia end face without inducing any scratching damage, generating a much better fiber and ferrule surface finish, a smallest fiber height and a comparable radius of curvature and apex offset in comparison with alcohol (Figs. [2][3][4][5]. As mentioned earlier, the better surface roughness and smaller fiber height resulted in the better physical contacts, and hence, the better optical performance, especially the smaller insertion loss, as shown in Fig.…”

“…rough polishing, intermediate polishing and final polishing, consuming 1.5-3 minutes for a polishing cycle. A recent study reveals that the polishing of fiber connectors can be done using only two-step protocols in a 1-minute cycle by selection of suitable polishing films [2] to qualify the geometrical quality and the optical performance. Alcohol is commonly used as a lubricant when polishing fiber connectors.…”

Design and analysis on kinematics of the lap-polisher with planet movement for optical fiber end-face

“…In the fabricating area of the fiber-optic connectors and optical fiber lens, lapping and polishing are one of the most important ways which can produce the connector and the lens with perfect surface morphology. Many scholars have carried out research and analysis on this topic and have achieved encouraging results [1][2][3][4][5][6]. However, achieving the best effect of lapping and polishing through the reasonable design of the movement parameters of lap-polisher is still a technically difficult problem.…”

Preparation of a polyimide composite filled with corundum as a kind of precision grinding slice

“…With the rapid development of high technology in recent years, high temperature resistant, high quality, and precision mechanical planarization1–4 tends to be widely used and intensively studied. Polishing with abrasive films is one of the predominant methods for mechanical planarization, especially for hard and brittle materials including glass surface, ceramic components, optical lenses, semiconductor wafers, special metals, and computer memory disks etc 5–7. Nowadays, more and more studies concentrate on the polishing techniques of abrasives8–10 such as diamond and alumina with their substrates of polyurethane, ultra‐high molecular weight polyethylene etc 5.…”