Study on Preparation of SiO2 Optical Fiber Preform by SG Method

Abstract

SiO2optical fiber preform, the parent material in manufacturing optical fiber, plays an important role in the properties of optical fiber. In this paper, SiO2dry gel was prepared by Sol-Gel method. According to this method, the gel was formed by hydrolyzing tetraethyl orthosilicate(TEOS) with hydrochloric acid and ammonia water, and the SiO2dry gel was obtained by heat treatment of the gel at different temperature. The structure of the dry gel as prepared was characterized by X-ray Diffraction(XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy(FT-IR) and Scanning electron microscope(SEM). As a result, amorphous structure is proved. Meanwhile, microscopic cracks are found to be decreased by adding formamide and increased when the heat-treatment temperature is above 75°C.