CUTTING TOOL AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING OPTICAL FIBER PREFORM
20220011499 · 2022-01-13
Assignee
Inventors
Cpc classification
B24D7/14
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B24B7/22
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
C03B37/012
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
B24D5/14
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B24D3/00
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
International classification
Abstract
A cutting tool includes: a shank part; and a cutting part provided at one end of the shank part. The cutting part includes a first region provided at one end of the cutting tool, and a second region located closer to a center of the cutting tool than the first region. Abrasive grains adhere to the first region and the second region. An average grain diameter of the abrasive grains in the second region is smaller than an average grain diameter of the abrasive grains in the first region.
Claims
1. A cutting tool comprising: a shank part; and a cutting part provided at one end of the shank part, wherein the cutting part includes a first region provided at one end of the cutting tool and a second region located closer to a center of the cutting tool than the first region, abrasive grains adhere to the first region and the second region, and an average grain diameter of the abrasive grains in the second region is smaller than an average grain diameter of the abrasive grains in the first region.
2. The cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein the abrasive grains are diamond grains.
3. The cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein the average grain diameter of the abrasive grains in the first region is 100 μm or greater and the average grain diameter of the abrasive grains in the second region is less than 100 μm.
4. The cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein an outer diameter of the second region is greater than an outer diameter of the first region.
5. The cutting tool according to claim 4, wherein a difference between the outer diameter of the second region and the outer diameter of the first region is in a range of 10 μm or greater and 300 μm or less.
6. A method for manufacturing an optical fiber preform including a core extending in a longitudinal direction, the method comprising: preparing a jacket material by forming a hole from one end to another end of a glass body in an axial direction of the glass body by using the cutting tool according to claim 1; inserting a core rod into the hole; and integrating the jacket material and the core rod with each other by heating the jacket material.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
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DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
[0025] [Problems to be Solved by Present Disclosure]
[0026] In a jacket pipe for manufacturing a single-core optical fiber preform, a hole is provided at the center of the jacket pipe. In a case where the jacket pipe is heated from the outside, the jacket pipe deforms while maintaining a symmetrical state with respect to the center axis of the jacket pipe. In other words, the inner circumference of the hole shrinks uniformly toward the center axis of the hole, and the inner wall of the hole comes into contact with the core rod. At the same time as the inner circumference of the hole shrinks, the inner wall of the hole becomes smooth. However, when the inner wall of the hole comes into contact with the core rod before the roughness of the inner wall of the hole becomes sufficiently small, there is a case where void remains at the boundary part between the inner wall of the hole and the core rod. When an optical fiber preform in which void exists is drawn, the outer diameter variation of the optical fiber increases and the mechanical strength of the optical fiber deteriorates.
[0027] In a case where the multi-core optical fiber preform is manufactured by the rod-in collapse method, when the clearance between the inner diameter of the hole and the outer diameter of the core rod decreases, the positional accuracy of the core increases. However, when the clearance is small, the inner wall of the hole is likely to come into contact with the core rod before the roughness of the inner wall of the hole becomes sufficiently small, and thus, void is more likely to remain.
[0028] In some multi-core optical fiber preforms, the holes are provided other than at the center of the jacket pipe. In a case where the jacket pipe is heated from the outside, the vicinity of the outer circumference of the jacket pipe is heated more strongly than the center of the jacket pipe. Therefore, it is difficult to keep the roughness of the inner wall of the hole provided other than at the center of the jacket pipe to be equal at the entire circumference of the inner wall in one cross section of the jacket pipe. Particularly, in a case of the hole provided in the vicinity of the outer circumference of the jacket pipe, void is likely to remain because the inner wall of the hole can come into contact with the core rod before the roughness of the part of the inner wall of the hole close to the center of the jacket pipe becomes sufficiently small.
[0029] [Description of Embodiments of Present Disclosure]
[0030] First, the contents of embodiments of the present disclosure will be listed and described.
[0031] (1) There is provided a cutting tool including: a shank part; and a cutting part provided at one end of the shank part, in which the cutting part includes a first region provided at one end of the cutting tool and a second region located closer to a center of the cutting tool than the first region, abrasive grains adhere to the first region and the second region, and an average grain diameter of the abrasive grains in the second region is smaller than an average grain diameter of the abrasive grains in the first region. Since the grain diameter of the abrasive grains in the second region is smaller than the grain diameter of the abrasive grains in the first region, the present disclosure can reduce the roughness of the inner wall of the hole in the second region while ensuring the productivity of hole opening in the first region. Accordingly, the present disclosure can obtain an optical fiber preform in which void is unlikely to remain at the boundary part between the inner wall of the hole and the core rod without deteriorating the productivity of the hole opening.
[0032] (2) In an aspect of the cutting tool according to the present disclosure, the abrasive grains are diamond grains. By using the diamond grains, a hole having a smooth inner wall can be easily formed in the glass body.
[0033] (3) In an aspect of the cutting tool according to present disclosure, the average grain diameter of the abrasive grains in the first region is 100 μm or greater and the average grain diameter of the abrasive grains in the second region is less than 100 μm. Since the average grain diameter of the abrasive grains in the first region is 100 μm or greater, the present disclosure can maintain a high processing speed of the hole opening. Furthermore, since the average grain diameter of the abrasive grains in the second region is less than 100 μm, the present disclosure can obtain a smooth inner wall even at such processing speed.
[0034] (4) In an aspect of the cutting tool according to the present disclosure, an outer diameter of the second region is greater than an outer diameter of the first region. Since the outer diameter of the second region is greater than the outer diameter of the first region, the second region can reliably process the inner wall of the hole after the first region has processed the hole. Accordingly, the present disclosure can reliably obtain a hole having a smooth inner wall.
[0035] (5) In an aspect of the cutting tool according to the present disclosure, a difference between the outer diameter of the second region and the outer diameter of the first region is in a range of 10 μm or greater and to 300 μm or less. Since the difference between the outer diameter of the second region and the outer diameter of the first region is 10 μm or greater, even when the abrasive grains of the second region wear out, the second region can continue to process the inner wall of the hole. Furthermore, since the difference between the outer diameter of the second region and the outer diameter of the first region is 300 μm or less, the load on the second region during the processing does not increase, and the abrasive grain wear of the second region is reduced.
[0036] (6) According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for manufacturing an optical fiber preform including a core extending in a longitudinal direction, the method including: preparing a jacket material by forming a hole from one end to another end of a glass body in an axial direction of the glass body by using the cutting tool according to the present disclosure; inserting a core rod into the hole; and integrating the jacket material and the core rod with each other by heating the jacket material. Since the average grain diameter of the abrasive grains in the second region is smaller than the average grain diameter of the abrasive grains in the first region, the present disclosure can reduce the roughness of the inner wall of the hole in the second region while ensuring the productivity of hole opening in the first region. Accordingly, the present disclosure can obtain an optical fiber preform in which void is unlikely to remain at the boundary part between the inner wall of the hole and the core rod without deteriorating the productivity of the hole opening. Further, according to the present disclosure, by drawing the optical fiber preform manufactured in this manner, it is possible to manufacture an optical fiber in which the outer diameter variation of the optical fiber decreases and the mechanical strength does not deteriorate.
[0037] [Advantageous Effects of Invention]
[0038] An object of the present disclosure is to provide a method for manufacturing an optical fiber preform and a cutting tool in which void is unlikely to remain at the boundary part between the inner wall of the hole and the core rod without deteriorating the productivity of the hole opening.
[0039] [Description of Embodiments]
[0040] Hereinafter, with reference to the attached drawings, an appropriate embodiment of the method for manufacturing an optical fiber preform and a cutting tool according to the present disclosure will be described.
[0041]
[0042] Rod-in collapse method is one of the methods for manufacturing an optical fiber preform. The rod-in collapse method includes: a process of preparing a jacket material by forming a hole from one end to another end of a cylindrical glass body in an axial direction of the cylindrical glass body, for example; a process of inserting a core rod into the hole of the jacket material; and a process of integrating the jacket material and the core rod with each other by heating the jacket material.
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[0044]
[0045] The cutting part 42 is, for example, a hollow round bar, and is provided with a discharge path 50a concentric with the shank part 41 at the center on the cross section of the cutting part 42. The outer circumferential surface of the cutting part 42 includes a first region 51 provided at one end of the cutting tool 40 and a second region 52 located closer to the center of the cutting tool 40 than the first region 51. Specifically, the second region 52 is located behind (on the left side in
[0046] An average grain diameter of the abrasive grains is evaluated by the grain size specified in JIS_B_4130. An average grain diameter of the diamond grains in the first region 51 is 100 μm or greater (#140 or less in the grain size indication in JIS_B_4130), preferably 150 μm or greater (#100 or less in the grain size indication in JIS_B_4130). An average grain diameter of the diamond grains in the second region 52 is smaller than the average grain diameter of the diamond grains in the first region 51. Specifically, the average grain diameter of the diamond grains in the second region 52 is less than 100 μm, preferably 50 μm or less (#270 or greater in the grain size indication in JIS_B_4130). The average grain diameter is generally determined, for example, by a method of sorting the particles by a plurality of types of sieves. An average grain diameter of 105 μm corresponds to the grain size indication #140, an average grain diameter of 149 μm corresponds to #100, and an average grain diameter of 53 μm corresponds to #270.
[0047] In this manner, since the average grain diameter of the diamond grains in the first region 51 is 100 μm or greater, the present embodiment can maintain a high processing speed of the hole opening. When the average grain diameter of the diamond grains in the first region 51 is 150 μm or greater, the present embodiment can further increase the processing speed of the hole opening. Furthermore, since the average grain diameter of the diamond grains in the second region 52 is less than 100 μm, the present embodiment can obtain a smooth inner wall of the hole even at the processing speed. When the average grain diameter of the diamond grains in the second region 52 is 50 μm or less, the present embodiment can make the inner wall of the hole smoother.
[0048] The amount of protrusion of the abrasive grains adhered to the cutting part 42 is adjusted by dressing to form the cutting edge. The diamond may be synthetic diamond or may be natural diamond. Diamond is appropriate for processing glass, but cubic boron nitride (CBN) may also be used for the abrasive grains of the present disclosure.
[0049] In the example illustrated in the drawings, an example in which the first region 51 is connected to the second region 52 is described. However, a region to which the abrasive grains do not adhere may be provided between the first region 51 and the second region 52, and the first region 51 and the second region 52 may be disposed apart from each other. The present embodiment is not limited to the two regions of the first region 51 and the second region 52, and three or more regions to which the abrasive grains adhere may be provided. In this case, the average grain diameter of the abrasive grains in the most rearward region is the smallest.
[0050] In the cutting part 42 for forming holes in the glass body 20, an outer diameter of the second region 52 and an outer diameter of the first region 51 may have the same size. However, as illustrated in
[0051] Specifically, the difference between the outer diameter D2 of the second region 52 and the outer diameter D1 of the first region 51 (D2−D1) is in a range of 10 μm or greater and 300 μm or less. Since the difference between the outer diameter D2 of the second region 52 and the outer diameter D1 of the first region 51 is 10 μm or greater, even when the diamond grains of the second region 52 wear out after a plurality of times of use of the cutting tool 40, the second region 52 can continue to process the inner wall of the hole. In addition, since the difference between the outer diameter D2 of the second region 52 and the outer diameter D1 of the first region 51 is 300 μm or less, the load on the second region 52 during the processing does not increase, and the diamond grain wear of the second region 52 is reduced.
[0052] In a case of forming a total of seven holes in the glass body 20 at the same positions as the seven cores 11 described in
[0053]
[0054] Then, a total of seven core rods 26 are inserted into the through holes 29 respectively.
[0055] The holes in the present disclosure may not be through holes. In this case, a total of seven ring-shaped bottomed holes 23 are formed in the glass body 20.
[0056] Next, when the glass body 20 is heated from the outside, the bottom part of the bar 24 softens and melts, and thus, by cleaving the bottom part of the bar 24, a circular bottomed hole 25 is formed in the glass body 20 (
[0057] Then, a total of seven core rods 26 are inserted into the circular bottomed holes 25, respectively.
[0058] The core rod 26 is a glass bar with a higher refractive index than that of the jacket material 27, and is made by a vapor phase glass synthesis method such as the vapor phase axial deposition (VAD) method. In a case where the jacket material 27 is fluorine added silica glass, as the core rod 26, a core rod including the center core containing pure silica glass (which may contain chlorine) and an optical cladding surrounding this center core and containing fluorine added silica glass, is used. Meanwhile, in a case where the jacket material 27 is pure silica glass, as the core rod 26, a core rod including the center core containing GeO.sub.2 added silica glass and an optical cladding surrounding this center core and containing pure silica glass to which GeO.sub.2 is not added, is used.
[0059]
[0060] A-A′ in
[0061] In this manner, in the rod-in collapse method, since the outer circumference of the jacket material 27 is close to the heating source, the outer circumference of the jacket material 27 is heated and deforms faster than the center of the jacket material 27. Therefore, as described at the position of B-B′ in
[0062] However, as described in
[0063] In the above-described Example, an example of the hollow round bar-shaped cutting tool 40 was described. However, the present disclosure is not limited to the example. For example, the cutting tool 40 may have a solid round bar-shape as illustrated in
[0064] In the cutting tool 40 illustrated in
[0065] In the above-described Example, the method for manufacturing the multi-core optical fiber preform 3 was described, but the present disclosure is also applicable to a case of manufacturing a single-core optical fiber preform.
[0066] It should be considered that the embodiments disclosed here are examples in all aspects and not restrictive. The scope of the present disclosure is indicated by the scope of claims, not the above-described meaning, and is intended to include all modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the claims.
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST
[0067] 1 . . . multi-core optical fiber
[0068] 3 . . . multi-core optical fiber preform
[0069] 10 . . . cladding
[0070] 11 . . . core
[0071] 20 . . . glass body
[0072] 21 . . . one end
[0073] 22 . . . another end
[0074] 23 . . . ring-shaped bottomed hole
[0075] 24 . . . uncut bar
[0076] 25 . . . circular bottomed hole
[0077] 26 . . . core rod
[0078] 27 . . . jacket material
[0079] 28 . . . ring-shaped hole
[0080] 29 . . . through hole
[0081] 30 . . . cladding part
[0082] 31 . . . core part
[0083] 40 . . . cutting tool
[0084] 41 . . . shank part
[0085] 42 . . . cutting part
[0086] 50 . . . tip end surface
[0087] 50a . . . discharge path
[0088] 51 . . . first region
[0089] 52 . . . second region