QUESTION: What happens if there are dust particles on one of the connector end faces during the connector mating process?
ANSWER:
Mating connectors with dust will embed the debris into the ferrule end face causing permanent scratches and pits.The way to calculate contact pressure (P) is to divide the normal force divided by the surface area or simply P=F/A.
If we assume a connector has mating force of 3kg (6.6 lbs) and that the contact area of the two mated connectors is 200µm (0.00787 inches), the contact force between of the mated connector pair in the contact zone is 147N/m2(21 psi).This is enough pressure between the two mated ferrules to embed the dust particles into the ferrule end faces creating scratches and pit marks in the glass of the fibre as well as on the surfaces of the zirconia ceramic of a single fiber ferrule and polymer composite materials used for MT ferrules.Scratches and pits located in the contact will have a negative impact of the signal performance and spike the inspection losses and disrupt back reflectance for angles polished connectors.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT & RESOURCES:
- Category Resource:FOC Cleaning Page
- Find More Information in this Blog:The art of cleaning: Follow these specific cleaning techniques during fiber optic cable assembly manufacturing and installation
Answered by AskFOC Technical TeamWITH the Sticklers MicroCare Corporation TeamJuly 18, 2017
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