Exploring the limits of buffering process for both standard and micro tubes

Mikko Lahti
Maillefer Extrusion Oy
Ensimmäinen savu
FIN-01511 Vantaa, Finland
+358 9 88 665 600 mikko.lahti@maillefer.net
Samppa Orhanen
Maillefer Extrusion Oy
Ensimmäinen savu
FIN-01511 Vantaa, Finland
+358 9 88 665 600 samppa.orhanen@maillefer.net

Abstract manufacturing environment. In optical fiber cable manufacturing,

Buffering process has taken several steps forward in productivity.
New limits for the line speeds have been applied in recent years.
When doubling or tripling the current manufacturing speeds
there might be new limitations for good cable quality. Today’s
trend is to produce dry loose tubes without any filling
compounds. When the fibers are placed into the tubes at ultra-
high speeds the alignment and the line tension control have
started to be extremely critical process parameters. With jelly
filled tubes the material properties as well as the jelly filling
techniques are bases for quality products. Of course, several
other variables including cross head tooling, cooling water
temperature, melt temperature, mid capstan location, fiber
tension, clinching caterpillar speed and location etc. need to be
adjusted to achieve the desired excess fiber length (EFL) and
post shrinkage (REL) properties. This paper sets out the most
important process as parameters for ultra-high buffering.
Keywords: Extrusion, polypropylene, polybutylene
terephthalate, excess fiber length, shrinkage, micro tubes, optic
fiber cables
1. Introduction
The global demand for optical fiber cables increases at a growing
rate. During the past 10 years the average yearly global growth
has been 17 % and it is projected to keep increasing. At the same
time this market has seen very tight competition between the
margins. The key to this problem is in increasing the efficiency
of cable manufacturing lines. As an optical fiber cable consists of
a bundle of buffer tubes, each potentially covering multiple
optical fibers, it is evident that to produce one kilometer of
optical fiber cable, multiple kilometers of loose buffer tube is
required. Thus the need to improve loose tube production is
obvious to enhance the overall efficiency gains. In addition to
this the buffer tube properties have high impact on the optical
fiber cable performance.
The efficiency of an optical cable manufacturing line can be
mainly improved by increasing the line speed. In order to reach
higher line speed, the manufacturing process itself must be
highly robust and withstand abnormalities and changes in the
more specifically the loose tube manufacturing process, this
means that the excess fiber length and post-shrinkage must stay
well under control during the whole production batch. The
problem with high line speeds in loose-tube process is that the
higher the speed, the larger the speed difference of the fiber
bundle and the plastic tube itself becomes, which in turn
increases EFL values of the product.
In the current system the speed difference of the tube and the
fiber bundle is countered by clinching the tube. Put it simply
clinching increases the tube’s speed without affecting the fiber
bundle inside. However if the fiber bundle and the tube are
coupled for some reason, clinching will have no effect. Therefore
a system or a method to avoid fiber bundle and tube coupling is
needed
With the traditional loose tube manufacturing lines being
designed for speeds of around 300 m/min, and the current high
speed lines reaching speeds as high as 1000 m/min, it is evident
that requirements for manufacturing process control increase.
There is no room for uncertainties and unknowns as the line
speeds are tripled [1-2].
2. Secondary coating line
The loose tube properties are important for a finished optic fiber
cable quality. Mainly because a faulty loose tube causes
excessive additional attenuation to the fibers running inside it,
preventing light travelling inside the cable, making the cable
unusable. Additionally the loose tube must have a suitable and
stable EFL and post-shrinkage values. All these properties can be
affected through the loose tube manufacturing process
parameters, yet it becomes increasingly difficult with increased
line speeds. A typical loose tube manufacturing line setup is
shown in Figure 1.
The loose tube manufacturing process can be thought of as a
series of actions done at a fast rate, with each action building on
top of the actions finished before it. The process begins by
extruding a tube and guiding it through the cooling trough. The
cooling water temperatures can be adjusted to suit the tube
material and other tube parameters to reach the desired outcome.
Fibers are guided into the tube through the extruder, crosshead
with fiber guiding needles – or jelly needles as they are
sometimes referred to. Depending on the chosen water blocking
method, filling gel or super absorbent polymer coated yarn is
injected or guided into the tube with the fiber bundle. The same
tooling can be used for both outcomes, but the needle sizes and
other details may vary between dry and jelly filled tubes.
Once the extruded polymer exits the extruder crosshead the
cooling process starts. Depending on the cooling water
temperatures and distance, the tube cooling initiation can be
altered. However the thermal shrinkage of polymer during
cooling cannot be avoided. The thermal shrinkage of optical
fibers can be neglected. Difference in heat expansion of the
plastic tube and the glass fiber is what causes the EFL to the
tubes being produced. Therefore the tube velocity at die exit has
to be several percentages higher than the fiber velocity.
Immediately after the extrusion the loose tube structure begins to
cool down. Since the plastic tube exhibits shrinking during the
cooling process, whereas fibers do not, EFL started to increase.
The speed difference increases as the line speed grows higher.
Figure 2 illustrates this phenomenon during the cooling. The
slope of the curve is a function of line speed and tube diameter.
The heat expansion coefficient of the material will also affect the
curve shape.
Figure 1. Secondary coating line with clinching
concept
The speed difference of the tube and the bundle can be altered by
increasing the tubes speed compared to the bundle speed. If the
bundle and the tube are not coupled together, this can simply be
done by forcing the tube forward in the cooling trough faster.
This can be done with clinching caterpillar which is located in
the cooling trough between the cross head and mid-capstan. The
suitable clinching speed difference compared to the line speed
depends on the line speed, tube structure and other process
parameters. If the bundle is coupled with the tube, clinching will
not have any effect, since it will force the whole loose tube
structure to move faster rather than increasing the tube speed
separately. When the speed difference between the fiber bundle
and the tube is high then the clinching needs less force. On the
other words clinging gets easier closer to the cross head. In order
clinch hot tube special caterpillar design is needed. Only when
very gentle and firm grip guaranteed hot tube clinching can be
ensured. That is especially important when demanding tube
designs are targeted.
After matching the proper tube speed with the clincher, the loose
tube structure is run around the mid-capstan. When the tube runs
multiple loops around the center capstan, the fiber bundle and
the tube are intentionally coupled together to “lock-in” the
clinching effects. However since the plastic tube, in most cases,
has not reached room temperature at this stage, the tube will
continue cooling through the multi-pass. Depending on the
plastic matrix’s polymer chains state when spooled around the
center capstan, internal forces due to thermal expansion, or
cooling shrinkage to be more precise, may be formed to the tube.
If the polymer chains inside the plastic matrix are not in their
relaxed state, post-shrinkage will occur after the manufacturing
process. Since the polymer chains can be either under pulling or
compressive stress, post-shrinkage can be also negative. This
means that the tube expands over time.
Figure 2. Relative speed difference between the tube
and the fiber bundle
3. Important process parameters
The key points in the loose tube manufacturing process are
presented more detailed in chapter 3.
3.1 Jelly injection
The fiber guiding into the tube, especially the filling gel injection
while guiding the fiber bundle into the tube, and the clinching.
More specifically keeping the tube and the fiber bundle from
coupling together before the clincher. If the jelly viscosity before
the injection can be lowered, the tension increase during the fiber
guiding process will be lowered and the process is assumed to
become more stable. More importantly if the filling gel’s
viscosity can be kept low all the way to the clincher, the jelly
would presumably act as a lubricant between the tube and the
fiber bundle, making the clinching easier, allowing the operator
to separately control the fiber to tube length ratio, excess fiber
length.
To get the gel inside the loose tube, filling gel is first heated and
then pumped through a needle tooling to inject it into the tube.
The needle size’s and distance related to extruder crosshead
tooling vary depending on the loose tube structure being
produced. After stand still, the jelly that has resided in the filling
tubes and needles is run through and circulated back to the gel
tank to improve homogeneity at start up. The purpose of the tank
and the heated hoses leading to the jelly injection needles is to
get the filling gel to a suitable process temperature, whereas the
purpose of the jelly needle’s is to inject the jelly around the fiber
bundle and inside the tube. Depending on the needle sizes and
extruder crosshead tooling, the gel fill can be altered.
In terms of the finished loose tube structure, a successful jelly
injection could be defined as a process that creates a nice even
fill to the whole loose tube, with as little vacuum voids in the
jelly fill as possible. The voids are caused during the cooling
process of the tube and the filling gel, and they cannot be
completely avoided.
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to design the best
possible needle structures for high speeds. Especially the
behavior of shear forces is rife with complexity. The shear
thinning nature of jellies will give some challenges for a good
material model. Figure 3 presents a schematic how meshing was
done for needles when the needle diameter was changed. There
is always tension increase when the jelly is applied on top of the
fibers. It is possible use needle or block designs but the fact that
the clearance between the fiber bundle and the jelly back needle
has to be small in order to prevent the leakage of the jelly.
The final design will guarantee proper jelly feeding without
excessive increase in pull-back tension to avoid visual defects as
well as to ease clinching.
For dry tube designs same needles are used for guiding the
swellable yarns through the crosshead. Also the yarn tension is
precisely controlled during the buffering process.
3.2 Cross head tooling
The tooling design is always product dependent. However, there
are couple of critical rules for selecting proper tools. For dry
tubes the balance should be close to one. Also the draw down
ratios for dry tubes needs to be re-calculated compared to the
traditional jelly filled tubes.
Figure 3. Example of meshing technics used for jelly
needle simulations
3.3 Clinching speed and location
Figure 2 gives a good overview for the clinching positioning.
When the speed difference between the fiber bundle and the tube
is high then the clinching needs less force. On the other words
clinging gets easier closer to the cross head. In order clinch hot
tube special caterpillar design is needed. Only when very gentle
and firm grip guaranteed hot tube clinching can be ensured. That
is especially important when demanding tube designs are
targeted.
When high production speeds are targeted then it utmost
important to be able to control the EFL during the ramp-up. That
gives more guidelines for clinching caterpillar location. If it is
too far away from the cross-head then it might be impossible to
compress the tube at low speeds because it is too cold. At high
speeds the tube might get oval.
3.4 Mid-capstan
EFL levels can be adjusted with the mid-capstan position.
Sometimes the coupling tendency is so high that the mid-capstan
has to be located over ten meters from the cross head. Proper
position allows large EFL variations with different clinching
caterpillar settings.
Figure 4. Velocity streamlines in jelly needle
3.5 Line tension
Line tension is the force which is applied to the tube between
mid-capstan and exit caterpillar/capstan. When the speeds are
close to 1000 m/min then the friction between the tube and water
start to have an effect on tube properties. Therefore it is
important to have such trough designs which allows the line
tension minimization.
There are also other process parameter such as fiber tension and
spooling tension. For dry tubes one should minimize the spooling
tension. In clinching process the fiber tension is not important
process parameter. It should be high enough to guarantee proper
clinching tensions.
4. Test products
Three products were selected for detailed testing: micro tube,
standard jelly filled tube and dry tube. All products have twelve
fibers inside. With micro tube structure no requirements were
set for EFL and post-shrinkage as the clincher was not used. The
other products were made with conditions that end up low EFL
and minimized shrinkage. The actual values are set out in Table
1.
 Table 1. Set of experimental products and cooled down. After cooling the length is measured and
Product/ Line recorded.
Material EFL/% Shrinkage%%
mm speed/m/min For micro tubes the polymer surface might sometimes become
1.4/1.1 PBT 900 NA NA rough. That can be improved by proper jelly needle design and
2.6/1.7 PBT 900 0.02 < 0.1 cooling temperature settings.
Jelly filled tubes are very robust for high speed buffering.
2.3/1.7 PP 800 0.02 < 0.1
Several robust process conditions are easy to find. The fine
tuning is mainly dependent on the tube inner diameter and jelly
Table 2 shows the process parameters for tests. The clinching properties.
position is presented in meters which corresponds to the distance Dry PP buffering needs proper tooling design. Also good cooling
from the cross head. Cooling trough profile is for following trough profile determination is more complex compared to the
structure: 2 times 8 meters hot sections followed by multipass jelly filled products. Also for dry products it is possible to reach
cooling section. Test runs are made using colored mechanical low EFL which is combined with zero shrinkage.
fibers and BASF LN6550 PBT and Borealis PP BC245MO
plastic compound. 5. Conclusions
The clinching tension and speed difference as well as measured Buffering process has taken several steps forward in productivity.
values for EFL and post-shrinkage are recorded. All New limits for the line speeds have been applied in recent years.
measurement values are taken from the steady-state section of When doubling or tripling the current manufacturing speeds
the sample run. The clinching tension and speed difference are there might be new limitations for good cable quality.
measured by devices built into the manufacturing line. EFL and
For micro tubes the polymer surface might sometimes become
post-shrinkage are measured as per the industry standards.
rough. That can be improved by proper jelly needle design and
Detailed explanation for both can be seen below. For each test
cooling temperature settings.
setup the line is let to run minimum 5 minutes at the line speed
with correct process parameters to ensure steady-state process Jelly filled tubes are very robust for high speed buffering.
conditions. Several robust process conditions are easy to find. The fine
tuning is mainly dependent on the tube inner diameter and jelly
properties.
Table 2. Process parameters
Product/ Cooling Clinching Clinching Dry PP buffering needs proper tooling design. Also good cooling
Line tension/ trough profile determination is more complex compared to the
mm temp/C tension/N position/m
1.4/1.1 50-40-10 NA NA 3 jelly filled products. Also for dry products it is possible to reach
low EFL which is combined with zero shrinkage.
2.6/1.7 30-30-10 17 9.5 6

2.3/1.7 15-15-10 16 11 6 6. References

[1] M. Lahti, "High speed polypropylene buffering",
proceedings IWCS 2000, pp. 445-448
EFL measurement is done by cutting a 5 m long sample from the
[2] M. Lahti, A. Bulsari and Ann Watson, ”Achieving ultra-
reel and measuring both, the tube length and the individual fibers
high speeds of polypropylene buffering for stranded loose
lengths. The procedure is as follows: 50 m of the sample is
tubes using nonlinear modelling”, proceedings IWCS 2014,
carefully unspooled from the sample reel without causing pulling
pp. 358-362
tension to the loose tube structure to avoid errors to the
measurement. After the 50 m has been unspooled an additional 7. Pictures of Authors
10 m of the loose tube is unspooled from the reel and taken to
the measurement table without cutting the sample loose tube
structure, the 5 m measurement sample will be taken from this
10 m length. The 5 m measurement sample length is measured
and the sample is cut simultaneously and rapidly with sharp
blades at the both ends of the 5 m sample. Prior to pulling the
fibers out of the loose tube the tube is measured and the tube
length is recorded, this length is used as tube length reference to
calculate EFL.
Post-shrinkage is measured from a 5 m sample cut from the loose
tube structure next to the EFL measurement sample cutting
point. The post-shrinkage measurement procedure is as follows:
5 m sample is cut from the tube. The length of the sample is
measured and recorded. The fiber bundle is left inside the tube
and then it is rolled on 5 loops to form a tight bundle. The Mikko Lahti received the degree of M. Sc. in Chemical
sample is put into an oven at 85 ⁰C and left in there for 45 Engineering in 1991 and the degree of Dr. Tech. in Polymer
minutes. After 45 minutes the sample is taken out from the oven Technology in 1996. Before joining Nextrom in 1997 he worked
as Research Scientist in European Joint Research Center in
Milan. From 1997 to 2006 he held nine years various positions in
Nextrom’s product management being actively involved with
process development for fiber optic cables. Then he joined
Maillefer Extrusion Oy in 2006 as Extrusion Development
Manager responsible for the development of the extrusion
processes for different cable applications. Currently as R&D
director he is responsible for R&D in Maillefer Group. Mikko
has 20 years of experience working on cable industry. His work
has ranged across R&D, product management, product
development, process development and material science.

Samppa Orhanen received the degree of M. Sc. in Mechanical

Engineering in 2016. Before joining Maillefer Extrusion as an
R&D Engineer he made his Master's Thesis to the company.
Currently Samppa is responsible for the development of the fiber
optic buffering process at Maillefer.