- Tensile Tester
-
Perhaps the most common technique for determining
fiber strength and fatigue is tensile testing. Three different systems are
available, all of which are compliant with current standard test procedures.
The Tensile Tester can also be used for coating strip force measurement and
component proof or pull testing.
- Two-Point Bend Tester
-
Two-point flexure is a very simple and convenient
method for measuring the strength and fatigue behavior of optical fiber. It
is capable of measuring the strength of many specimens simultaneously and
the fibers can be immersed in a variety of test environments including
liquids. The technique is particularly useful for assessing the effect of
different coating materials or environments on strength and fatigue.
- Automatic Fiber Loader
-
The Automatic Loader is an option for the Two-Point
Bend Tester that is used for automatically loading and breaking fibers
without operator intervention. Control scripts are used to orchestrate a
complete set of measurements that might include, for example, measurements
at several different loading rates. The Automatic Loader permits the
equipment to be run unattended overnight, thus reducing the economic
overhead of Two-Point Bend Tester.
- Four-Point Bend Tester
-
The Four-Point Bend Tester is a research instrument
that is useful for bend/flexure testing of weak fibers that are too weak to
be tested in two-point bending. It is particularly useful for characterizing
fiber that has been deliberately weakened by, for example, abrasion or
indentation. The measurements are useful for understanding the
strength/fatigue behavior of very weak defects that can be introduced, for
example, by such processing steps as stripping or splicing.
- Static Fatigue Testing
-
A comprehensive solution is available for static
fatigue testing in two-point bending. Included are precision bore tubes for
applying a bending stress, acoustic sensors for detecting failure, a Four
Channel Trigger Box for conditioning the signals from the acoustic sensors
and a Trigger Box Monitoring System that interfaces 32 or 64 separate
experiments (sensors) to a PC for logging and analyzing the resulting data.
- Data Analysis and Graphing
Software
-
Strength and fatigue data need to be analyzed in
order to extract statistical and fatigue parameters. Plug-ins for the
SigmaPlot program are available which produce publication quality graphs and
data analysis compliant with current standard test procedures.
