New recoating shapes available

NYFORS silicone mould technology enables the creation of specialized recoat shapes for demanding applications such as undersea optical fiber cable assembly and high power fiber laser manufacturing.

Standard silicone moulds for NYFORS recoaters produce recoatings with an outer diameter that perfectly matches that of the original fiber coating. But thanks to the adaptability of the silicone mould technology we can also offer specialized solutions for recoating applications with other size and shape requirements.

In high power fiber laser manufacturing it is sometimes desirable to create recoatings with a larger diameter that overlaps the primary coating at each end of the recoat section (overcoating). For these applications we can offer overcoating moulds to match 550 µm and other common fiber coating diameters. Moulds for tapered recoatings are not developed yet but are technically possible with the silicone mould technology.

For splice protection in undersea optical fiber cable assembly we can offer not only uniform diameter recoating moulds but also undersize moulds that produce recoatings with a cross section slightly smaller in diameter than the original fiber coating (e.g. a 245 µm recoating on a 250 µm coated fiber). This facilitates operations where a spliced and recoated fiber must go through secondary processes such as color coating of long submarine fibers.

Silicone moulds come in a broad standard range of sizes to meet different fiber coating diameters (from 165 µm up to 900 µm) with custom moulds available. They can be exchanged by the operator in less than a minute with no realignment of the system required.

This, in combination with the simplicity of switching between different recoating materials (e.g. from a high index to a low index compound), underscores the flexibility of NYFORS silicone mould recoaters as the most versatile and easily adaptable systems available on the market today.