Practical aspects in the drawing of an optical fiber

Abstract

The transport processes in the furnace for the continuous drawing of optical fibers have been studied numerically and analytically. Practical circumstances and operating conditions are considered. A peripheral gas flow configuration has been modeled, along with irises at the ends, as employed in practical furnaces. The neck-down profile of the fiber is not chosen, but has been generated on the basis of a surface force balance. The results obtained are validated by comparisons with earlier experimental results. A detailed analysis has been carried out to determine the relative contributions of different forces during the drawing process. Even though the internal viscous stress is shown to be the major contributor to the draw tension, it is found that under certain operating conditions, the force due to gravity is significant, especially at the beginning of the neck-down region. For a peripheral flow configuration, the effect of flow entrance is found to be very important in determining the necking shape. However, the effect of the iris size on the fiber temperature field is found to be negligible. It is found that for a given furnace temperature and fiber radius, there is an upper limit for draw-down speed at which a fiber can be drawn without rupture. Practical ranges of draw speeds and furnace temperature conditions are identified for the process to be feasible.