METHOD AND DEVICE FOR PREPARING FLUORIDE GLASS OPTICAL FIBER PREFORM BY TUBE SUCTION METHOD

Abstract

A method and a device for preparing a fluoride glass optical fiber preform by a tube suction method are provided. The method includes following steps: S1, heating and melting glass raw materials of outer cladding, inner cladding and a fiber core; S2, sucking to prepare the outer cladding; S3, sucking to prepare the inner cladding inside the outer cladding; S4, sucking to prepare the fiber core inside the inner cladding; and S5, annealing the outer cladding, the inner cladding and the fiber core to obtain a preform product.

Claims

1. A method for preparing a fluoride glass optical fiber preform by a tube suction method, comprising following steps: S1, heating and melting glass raw materials of outer cladding, inner cladding and a fiber core; S2, sucking to prepare the outer cladding; S3, sucking to prepare the inner cladding inside the outer cladding; S4, sucking to prepare the fiber core inside the inner cladding; and S5, annealing the outer cladding, the inner cladding and the fiber core to obtain a preform product.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein in the S1, the glass raw materials of the outer cladding, the inner cladding and the fiber core are respectively put into platinum crucibles, and the platinum crucibles are placed in a furnace at 700-900 degrees Celsius and kept for 1-2 hours, so that the glass raw materials are completely melted.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein in the S2, a first platinum crucible containing an outer cladding melting raw material is taken out of the furnace and placed on a movable platform, and a temperature of the melting raw material is monitored by infrared temperature measurement; when the temperature of the melting raw material is reduced to 450-550 degrees Celsius, a quartz tube is inserted into the melting raw material, and the melting raw material is sucked by a negative pressure, and a pressure is held for 5-30 seconds after suction is completed, and the negative pressure is relieved, an excess raw material is discharged, and a preparation of the outer cladding is completed.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein in the S3, a second platinum crucible containing an inner cladding melting raw material is moved below the quartz tube through the movable platform, the quartz tube with the outer cladding is inserted into the inner cladding melting raw material, the melting raw material is sucked by the negative pressure, the pressure is held for 5-10 seconds after suction is completed, the negative pressure is relieved, an excess raw material is discharged, and a preparation of the inner cladding is completed.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein in the S4, a third platinum crucible containing a fiber core melting raw material is moved below the quartz tube through the movable platform, and the quartz tube with the outer cladding and the inner cladding is inserted into the fiber core melting raw material, and the melting raw material is sucked by the negative pressure, and the pressure is held for 10-30 seconds after suction is completed, and the negative pressure is relieved after a fiber core melting raw material is solidified.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein in the S5, the quartz tube with the outer cladding, the inner cladding and the fiber core is put into an annealing furnace for annealing, wherein an annealing temperature is 10-20 degrees Celsius higher than a glass transition temperature, and a duration of an annealing heat preservation is 2-4 hours; and after the heat preservation is completed, a temperature of the quartz tube is cooled to room temperature at a rate of 10 degrees Celsius per hour, and the preform product is obtained.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: preparing a preform product with a single cladding.

8. A device used in the method of claim 1, comprising: a movable platform, wherein platinum crucibles are placed on a top end of the movable platform, and a lifting column is arranged on one side of the movable platform, and the lifting column is fixedly connected to a valve body through a bracket; wherein the valve body is fixedly in communication with a quartz tube, and the quartz tube is located above the platinum crucibles; and wherein the valve body is also fixedly in communication with two hoses, one of the hoses is fixedly in communication with a sucker, and an other of the hoses is fixedly in communication with a vent valve through a quick-connect port.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0032] In order to explain the embodiments of the present disclosure or the technical scheme in the prior art more clearly, the drawings needed in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present disclosure. For one of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings may be obtained according to these drawings without creative effort.

[0033] FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a method for preparing a fluoride glass optical fiber preform by a tube suction method according to the present disclosure.

[0034] FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a device according to the present disclosure.

[0035] FIG. 3 is a flow chart for preparing a double cladding preform according to the present disclosure.

[0036] FIG. 4 is a flow chart for preparing a single cladding preform according to the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0037] In the following, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described with reference to the attached drawings. Apparently, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, but not all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by one of ordinary skill in the art without creative effort belong to the protection scope of the present disclosure.

[0038] In order to make the above objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure more obvious and easier to understand, the present disclosure will be further described in detail with the attached drawings and specific embodiments.

[0039] With reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, the present disclosure provides a method for preparing a fluoride glass optical fiber preform by a tube suction method, which includes the following steps. [0040] S1, glass raw materials of outer cladding, inner cladding and a fiber core are heated and melted; [0041] S2, the glass raw material in a first platinum crucible is sucked to prepare the outer cladding; [0042] S3, the glass raw material in a second platinum crucible is sucked to prepare the inner cladding inside the outer cladding; [0043] S4, the glass raw material in a third platinum crucible is sucked to prepare the fiber core inside the inner cladding; and [0044] S5, the outer cladding, the inner cladding and the fiber core are annealed to obtain a preform product.

[0045] In an embodiment, in the S1, the glass raw materials of the outer cladding, the inner cladding and the fiber core are respectively put into platinum crucibles 2 (i.e., the first, second and third platinum crucibles), and the platinum crucibles 2 are placed in a furnace at 700-900 C. and kept for 1-2 h, so that the glass raw materials are completely melted.

[0046] In an embodiment, in the S2, the first of the platinum crucibles 2 containing an outer cladding melting raw material is taken out of the furnace and placed on a movable platform 1, and the temperature of the melting raw material is monitored by infrared temperature measurement. When the temperature of the melting raw material is reduced to 450-550 C., a quartz tube 3 is inserted into the outer cladding melting raw material, and the melting raw material is sucked by a negative pressure, and a pressure is held for 5-30 s after the suction is completed, and the negative pressure is relieved and an excess raw material is discharged, a preparation of the outer cladding is completed.

[0047] The quartz tube 3 is a mold for preparing preforms, and preforms of different sizes may be prepared by the quartz tubes with different diameters and lengths.

[0048] In an embodiment, in the S3, the second platinum crucible 2 containing an inner cladding melting raw material is moved below the quartz tube 3 through the movable platform 1, the quartz tube 3 with the outer cladding is inserted into the inner cladding melting raw material, the melting raw material is sucked by the negative pressure, the pressure is held for 5-10 s after the suction is completed, the negative pressure is relieved, and an excess raw material is discharged, and a preparation of the inner cladding is completed.

[0049] In an embodiment, in the S4, the third platinum crucibles 2 containing a fiber core melting raw material is moved below the quartz tube 3 through the movable platform 1, and the quartz tube 3 with the outer cladding and the inner cladding is inserted into the fiber core melting raw material, and the melting raw material is sucked by the negative pressure, and the pressure is held for 10-30 s after the suction is completed, and the negative pressure is relieved after the fiber core raw melting material is solidified.

[0050] The thickness of the cladding glass is controlled by controlling the pressure-holding duration after sucking the melting raw materials.

[0051] In an embodiment, in the S5, the quartz tube 3 with the outer cladding, the inner cladding and the fiber core is put into an annealing furnace for annealing. An annealing temperature is 10-20 C. higher than a glass transition temperature, and the duration of the annealing heat preservation is 2-4 h; after heat preservation is completed, the temperature is cooled to room temperature at a rate of 10 C./h, and the preform product is obtained.

[0052] In an embodiment, a preform product with a single cladding may also be prepared.

[0053] When preparing the single cladding preform, one molten fiber core material and only one molten cladding material need to be prepared. Meanwhile, the S3 is omitted, and the S4 is changed to be: the glass raw material in the platinum crucible is sucked to prepare the fiber core inside the outer cladding, and the S5 is changed to be: the outer cladding and the fiber core are annealed to obtain the single cladding preform product.

[0054] The number of platinum crucibles 2 is three or two. When the number of platinum crucibles 2 is three, the three platinum crucibles 2 are used to prepare double cladding preforms. And when the number of platinum crucibles 2 is two, the two platinum crucibles 2 are used to prepare single cladding preforms. Different platinum crucibles 2 are used to hold different fiber cores and cladding raw material melts.

[0055] A device used in the method for preparing the fluoride glass optical fiber preform by the tube suction method is provided, which includes a movable platform 1. The platinum crucibles 2 are placed on the top end of the movable platform 1, and a lifting column 6 is arranged on one side of the movable platform 1, and the lifting column 6 is fixedly connected to a valve body 5 through a bracket 4, and the valve body 5 is fixedly communicated with a quartz tube 3, and the quartz tube 3 is located above the platinum crucibles 2, and the valve body 5 is also fixedly communicated with two hoses 9. One of the hoses 9 is fixedly communicated with a sucker 10, and the other of the hoses 9 is fixedly communicated with a vent valve 8 through a quick-connect port 7.

[0056] The movable platform 1 has a program-controlled mobile function, which is capable of driving the placed platinum crucibles 2 to move. The quartz tube 3 is assembled on the valve body 5 and sealed by an O-ring. The bracket 4 is installed on the lifting column 6, and the lifting column 6 has a program-controlled lifting function and is capable of driving the valve body 5 and the quartz tube 3 to move up and down, and extend into the platinum crucibles 2. The vent valve 8 and the sucker 10 are respectively connected to the valve body 5 by the quick-connect port 7 and the hoses 9.

[0057] The vent valve 8 has a program-controlled function, and the negative pressure in the quartz tube 3 is maintained or relieved through program control.

[0058] The sucker 10 has a program-controlled function. The program-controlled suction or discharge of glass melt may be realized by moving the piston to generate a negative pressure.

[0059] A manufacturing process according to the present disclosure includes following steps. A high-temperature furnace is turned on, and cladding and fiber core glass are melted respectively in multiple platinum crucibles 2. The fiber core and cladding glass melt are placed on the movable platform 1 for temperature monitoring after being melted. When the temperature is appropriate, the glass melt is sucked into the quartz tube 3 to form the preform. The suction temperature is determined by the viscosity of the glass melt, and the cladding thickness is controlled by the pressure-holding duration. By controlling the viscosity of the glass melt and heat preservation duration, the cladding thickness is controlled. The number of cladding layers is controlled by the number of times of suction. After the annealing is completed, the quartz tube 3 is taken out to obtain the required optical fiber preform.

[0060] The negative pressure generated by the piston movement of the sucker 10 sucks the glass melt, and after the glass melt is cooled to a certain degree, the excess glass melt is discharged to form a cladding tube. In this process, the required cladding thickness may be prepared by controlling the temperature of the glass melt and the pressure-holding duration after suction. A bubble-free interface between cladding and fiber core is achieved by the good wettability of glass surface at high temperature. In addition, the preform may be automatically demoulded by the thermal expansion difference between the quartz tube 3 and fluoride glass.

Embodiment 1: A Zirconium Fluoride-Based Double Cladding Fluoride Glass Optical Fiber Preform

[0061] 1, glasses of zirconium fluoride-based outer cladding, inner cladding and fiber core are put into two 100 ml and one 75 ml platinum crucibles 2 respectively, and the platinum crucibles 2 are put into a silicon-carbon rod furnace and melted for 1 hour at 700 C. to completely melt glass raw materials into a liquid state, and then the glass raw materials are stirred with a platinum paddle for 30 minutes at a stirring speed of 60 revolutions per minute (rpm) to keep glass melts in the platinum crucibles 2 at 700 C. for later use. [0062] 2, a quartz tube 3 with an inner diameter of 15 centimetres (cm) and a length of 20 cm is selected according to a size of a target optical fiber, and the quartz tube 3 is inserted into a tenon of the valve body 5 to complete the fixation of the quartz tube 3. [0063] 3, the glass melts of the outer cladding, inner cladding and fiber core are taken out successively at intervals of 1 minute and 30 seconds respectively and put on the movable platform 1, and the temperature of the glass melts is monitored by infrared temperature measurement; after the temperature of the outer cladding glass melt drops to 480 C., the program is started, and the quartz tube 3 is inserted into the outer cladding glass melt, and the glass melt is sucked until the liquid level is slightly higher than the required length of the preform. [0064] 4, after the suction is completed, the quartz tube 3 is lifted out of the liquid level, the pressure is held for 30 seconds, the negative pressure is relieved, and the excess glass melt is discharged, and the preparation of the outer cladding is completed. [0065] 5, the program is executed to align the quartz tube 3 with the inner cladding glass melt, the quartz tube 3 with the outer cladding tube is inserted into the inner cladding glass melt, and the inner cladding glass melt is sucked until the liquid level is slightly higher than the length of the outer cladding. [0066] 6, the quartz tube 3 is lifted out of the liquid level after the suction is completed, the pressure is held for 10 seconds after the suction is completed, the negative pressure is relieved, and the excess glass melt is discharged, and the preparation of the inner cladding is completed. [0067] 7, the program is executed to align the quartz tube 3 with the fiber core glass melt, the quartz tube 3 with the cladding tube is inserted into the fiber core glass melt, and the fiber core glass melt is sucked until the liquid level is slightly higher than the length of the inner cladding. [0068] 8, the quartz tube 3 is lifted out of the liquid level after the suction is completed, and the pressure is held for 30 seconds. After the fiber core glass melt is solidified, the negative pressure is relieved, and the quartz tube 3 is removed and immediately put into a precision annealing furnace for annealing. The initial annealing temperature is set at 250 C., and then heat preservation is performed at this temperature for 3 hours, and then the temperature is cooled to room temperature at a rate of 10 C./h. [0069] 9, after the annealing is completed, the fluoride glass rod is taken out from the quartz tube 3 to obtain the zirconium fluoride-based glass optical fiber preform with a double cladding structure.

Embodiment 2: A Zirconium Fluoride-Based Single Cladding Fluoride Glass Optical Fiber Preform

[0070] 1, glasses of zirconium fluoride-based outer cladding and fiber core are put into two 100 ml platinum crucibles 2, respectively, the platinum crucibles 2 are put into the silicon-carbon rod furnace and melted for 1 hour at 700 C. to completely melt the glass raw materials into a liquid state, and then the glass raw materials are stirred with a platinum paddle for 30 minutes at a stirring speed of 60 rpm to keep the glass melts in the platinum crucibles 2 at 700 C. for later use. [0071] 2, a quartz tube 3 with an inner diameter of 10 cm and a length of 20 cm is selected according to a size of a target optical fiber, and the quartz tube 3 is inserted into the tenon of the valve body 5 to complete the fixation of the quartz tube 3. [0072] 3, the glass melts of the outer cladding and fiber core are taken out after an interval of 1 minute and put on the movable platform 1, and the temperature of the glass melts is monitored by infrared temperature measurement; after the temperature of the outer cladding glass melt drops to 450 C., the program is started, and the quartz tube 3 is inserted into the outer cladding glass melt, and the glass melt is sucked until the liquid level is slightly higher than the required preform length. [0073] 4, after the suction is completed, the quartz tube 3 is lifted out of the liquid level, the pressure is held for 10 seconds, the negative pressure is relieved, and the excess glass melt is discharged, and the preparation of the outer cladding is completed. [0074] 5, the program is executed to align the quartz tube 3 with the fiber core glass melt, the quartz tube 3 with the cladding tube is inserted into the fiber core glass melt, and the fiber core glass melt is sucked until the liquid level is slightly higher than the length of the outer cladding. [0075] 6, the quartz tube 3 is lifted out of the liquid level after the suction is completed, and the pressure is held for 10 seconds. After the fiber core glass melt is solidified, the negative pressure is relieved, and the quartz tube 3 is removed and immediately put into a precision annealing furnace for annealing. The initial annealing temperature is set at 250 C., and then heat preservation is performed at this temperature for 2 hours, and then the temperature is cooled to room temperature at a rate of 10 C./h. [0076] 7, after the annealing is completed, the fluoride glass rod is taken out from the quartz tube 3 to obtain the zirconium fluoride-based glass optical fiber preform with a single cladding structure.

Embodiment 3: An Indium Fluoride-Based Double Cladding Fluoride Glass Optical Fiber Preform

[0077] 1, glasses of the indium fluoride-based outer cladding, inner cladding and fiber core are put into two 100 ml and one 75 ml platinum crucibles 2 respectively, the platinum crucibles 2 are put into a silicon-carbon rod furnace and melted for 1 hour at 900 C. to completely melt the glass raw materials into a liquid state, and then the glass raw materials are stirred with a platinum paddle for 30 minutes at a stirring speed of 60 rpm to keep the glass melts in the platinum crucibles 2 at 800 C. for later use. [0078] 2, a quartz tube 3 with an inner diameter of 12 cm and a length of 20 cm is selected according to a size of a target optical fiber, and the quartz tube 3 is inserted into the tenon of the valve body 5 to complete the fixation of the quartz tube 3. [0079] 3, the glass melts of the outer cladding, inner cladding and fiber core are taken out successively at intervals of 1.5 minutes and 30 seconds respectively and put on the movable platform 1, the temperature of the glass melts is monitored by infrared temperature measurement; after the temperature of the outer cladding glass melt drops to 550 C., the program is started, the quartz tube 3 is inserted into the outer cladding glass melt, and the glass melt is sucked until the liquid level is slightly higher than the required preform length. [0080] 4, after the suction is completed, the quartz tube 3 is lifted out of the liquid level for 30 seconds, the negative pressure is relieved, and excess glass melt is discharged, and the preparation of the outer cladding is completed. [0081] 5, the program is executed to align the quartz tube 3 with the inner cladding glass melt, the quartz tube 3 with the outer cladding tube is inserted into the inner cladding glass melt, and the inner cladding glass melt is sucked until the liquid level is slightly higher than the length of the outer cladding. [0082] 6, the quartz tube 3 is lifted out of the liquid level after the suction is completed, the pressure is held for 5 seconds after the suction is completed, the negative pressure is relieved, and the excess glass melt is discharged, and the preparation of the inner cladding is completed. [0083] 7, the program is executed to align the quartz tube 3 with the fiber core glass melt, the quartz tube 3 with the cladding tube is inserted into the fiber core glass melt, and the fiber core glass melt is sucked until the liquid level is slightly higher than the length of the inner cladding. [0084] 8, the quartz tube 3 is lifted out of the liquid level after the suction is completed, and the pressure is held for 30 seconds. After the fiber core glass melt is solidified, the negative pressure is relieved, and the quartz tube 3 is taken down and immediately put into a precision annealing furnace for annealing. The initial annealing temperature is set at 230 C., and then heat preservation is performed at this temperature for 4 hours, and then the temperature is cooled to room temperature at a rate of 10 C./h. [0085] 9, after the annealing is completed, the fluoride glass rod is taken out from the quartz tube 3 to obtain the indium fluoride-based glass optical fiber preform with a double cladding structure.

[0086] In the description of the present disclosure, it should be understood that the terms longitudinal, transverse, up, down, front, back, left, right, vertical, horizontal, top, bottom, inside, outside, etc. indicate orientation or positional relationships based on the orientation or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, only for the convenience of describing the present disclosure, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation of the present disclosure.

[0087] The above-mentioned embodiments only describe the preferred mode of the present disclosure, and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure. Under the premise of not departing from the design spirit of the present disclosure, various modifications and improvements made by ordinary technicians in the field to the technical scheme of the present disclosure should fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.