Flex Fatigue of Side Emitting Optical Fiber

Abstract

Side emitting plastic optical fibers can be used in textile structures for some special optical activities due to the light leaking out from their surface. One significant characteristic of plastic optical fibers is their tendency to weaken side emitting capability under mechanical deformation, which can be simulated as repeated bending cycles under prescribed pretension. The principle of evaluation of flex fatigue was based on the repeated bending cycles until break. Q-Q plot and three-parameter Weibull distribution were used for estimation of numbers of bending cycles of plastic optical fibers with different diameters. The relationship between flex fatigue and flexibility were analyzed and compared with logarithmic values.