WCA November 2016

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Wire & Cable ASIA – November/December 2016
After testing, all the attenuation values of the flat cable with
two different structures were below the limits, that is, the
attenuation of the flat cable was no more than 0.4dB/km at
1,310nm, and no more than 0.3dB/km at 1,550nm.
4.2.2 Mechanical property
The following mechanical tests were carried out according
the IEC 60794-1-2 and IEC 60794-1-22 standards in order
to make sure that all the parameters were according to the
specification and fully met the client’s requirements and
needs.
A main series of tensile and crush tests had been
performed and the relevant results are listed in Figures 1
and 4.
4.2.2.1 Tensile test
The client’s requirements for tensile performance were
a maximum fibre strain of 0.6 per cent and maximum
attenuation increase of 0.1dB for a requested 1,350N load
dwell for 1 min. Furthermore, there should be no damage
to the cable’s outer sheath.
The test result showed that the maximum fibre strain
was 0.235 per cent, as shown in Figure 1. In addition, it
was also found that the maximum short term additional
attenuation was only 0.005dB and the maximum residual
additional attenuation was just 0.003dB.
In carrying out the tensile limit test of the cable, a special
anchor clamp to fix the cable, as shown in Figure 2, was
used.
The cable was loaded on the tensile testing machine and
force applied until breakage took place, as shown in Figure 3.
The breakage appeared as the force increased to 2,300N,
and this value far exceeded the users’ requirements.
4.2.2.2 Crush test
In this test, the specified crush force was 500N, and the
time for imposed pressure was 1 min.
The result obtained for the 500N load is shown in
Figure 4, where there was almost no change for the
attenuation during the test, even at the high load.
The additional attenuation was reversible and there was no
damage to the cable outer sheath.
Fibre strain: 0.235%
❍
❍ Figure 1: Tensile performance for the cable
❍
❍ Figure 2: The anchor clamp used to fix cable ❍
❍ Figure 3: The tensile limit test of the cable
CRUSH3
❍
❍ Figure 4: Crush performance for the cable