Lifetime modeling of silica optical fiber in static fatigue test

Abstract

During their use, optical fibers are subject to harsh installation and environmental conditions. To evaluate more precisely the lifetime of an optical fiber, it is necessary to study the mechanical behavior of optical fibers under extreme conditions, in particular under mechanical and thermal stresses.This paper presents the results of new silica optical fibers aged in hot water between 20?C and 70?C and subjected to mechanical static bending stresses from 3 GPa to 3.5 GPa. Thermal dependence of the time to failure was observed. This dependence can be described by the Arrhenius model, where the activation energy is one of the main physical characteristic. The stress corrosion parameter also seems to regularly change with temperature.