Buffering effect of fiber coating and its influence on the proof test load in optical fibers.
The tensile force experienced by a coated glass fiber during proof testing is applied to the coating and, therefore, may be reduced because of the buffering effect of the coating. In this study such an effect is evaluated on the basis of an analytical stress model. It is shown that for any finite, even very great, coating compliance, one can always choose a sufficiently long specimen in which the glass fiber is loaded to practically the same level as in an infinitely long composite. The numerical example carried out for a dual-coated fiber, considered for future undersea systems, indicated that if ~10 cm long specimens are employed, 98% of the fiber length will be subjected to a tensile force >99% of the value for the case of an infinitely long fiber. The results obtained can be used for the analysis of the mechanical performance of coated fibers of finite length. They can be utilized, in particular, for selecting appropriate specimen lengths during proof testing.
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