Dsm IP Assets B.v.

Covestro (netherlands) B.v.

Huimin Cao

Johan Franz Gradus Antonius Jansen

Paulus Franciscus Anna Buijsen

Kangtai Ren

Mark Pepels

Duurt Alkema

Paul Buijsen

Robert W Johnson

David M Szum

Jan Van Eekelen

Wendell Wayne Cattron

David Michael Szum

Sandra Nagelvoort

Marcel Houben

Sandra Joanna Klein Nagelvoort

Duurt Pieter Willem Alkema

Robert William Johnson

Johannes Andrianus Eekelen Van

The present invention is directed to water-swellable, radiation curable compositions suitable for use in coating water-blocking fibers, such as optical fibers. The present invention is further directed to fibers, including optical fibers, which are coated with water-swellable exterior coatings that are configured to buckle and detach from the associated fiber to facilitate superior performance in longitudinal water-blocking testing. Also claimed and described are methods of applying such water-swellable coatings to optical fiber coatings. Further claimed and described are buffered bundles of fibers including at least one optical fiber that is coated with a water-swellable, radiation curable coating to ensure superior longitudinal water blocking performance.

Water-blocking systems including fibers coated with liquid radiation curable SAP compositions

Disclosed and claimed herein are radiation curable compositions for coating an optical fiber containing an oligomer, a diluent, a photoinitiator, and optionally, additives. The oligomer includes a reactive urethane oligomer having at least three arms, each arm having a most distal termination point and bound together at a single junction point, wherein at least one arm comprises the reaction product of a polyol, a polyisocyanate, and an isocyanate-reactive (meth)acrylate. The reactive urethane oligomer possesses specified molecular weight and/or average functionality values, and it may possess specified chain length values between the oligomer junction point and the distal termination point along one or more arm(s). Also disclosed are methods of coating an optical fiber incorporating the compositions described herein, along with the coated optical fibers and cables produced therefrom.

Radiation curable compositions with multi-functional long-armed oligomers for coating optical fibers

Described herein is a method for coating optical fiber where the coating has been cured by application of a source of monochromatic actinic radiation, such as a light emitting diode, wherein the coating contains a urethane(meth)acrylate oligomer; a (meth)acrylate diluent monomer; a diluent monomer having an electron donating group adjacent to the vinyl group, such as a vinyl ether monomer; and a photoinitiator. Also described are compositions which are capable of undergoing photopolymerization when coated on an optical fiber and when irradiated by a light emitting diode (LED) with improved surface cure and reduced yellowing. Also described are the coated optical fibers produced by such processes and compositions.

Monochromatic actinic radiation curable coatings for optical fiber

A coated optical fiber can have a primary coating and a secondary coating, where the primary coating can have good microbending resistance and is obtained by curing a composition having a high cure speed. In one example, a coated optical fiber can include as optical fiber, a primary coating and a secondary coating. The optical fiber can have an attenuation increase of less than 0.650 dB/km at 1550 nm, with the primary coating having a modulus retention ratio of at least 0.5, a glass transition temperature of &#x2212;35&#xb0; C., and where the primary coating is obtained by curing a primary coating composition having a cure dose to attain 95% of the maximum attainable modulus of less than 0.65 J/cm.

Coated optical fibers

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Addison, IL, United States of America

Huimin Cao