March 27, 2008, Corning, NY--Corning Incorporated announced today the introduction of a suite of Corning High-Temperature/Harsh-Environment Specialty Fibers. Corning's new products include single-mode and multimode fibers with polyimide coatings in both hermetic and non-hermetic formats. These new fibers are designed to exceed the requirements for high-temperature sensor applications, which include a high resistance to hydrogen permeation, excellent fiber fatigue performance, and high usable strength.
Corning's polyimide-coated fiber has an engineered high-temperature polymer that exhibits thermal stability up to 300 degrees Celsius, superior mechanical toughness, and outstanding chemical resistance. Corning's coating process provides a consistent and repeatable coating layer from lot to lot which allows customers to consistently operate their processes. The multimode fiber is useful for Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) applications and the single-mode fiber can be utilized for Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) point sensing, such as engine or pipeline monitoring.
Corning's specially designed hermetic fiber provides a thin protective layer of amorphous carbon that is bonded directly to the glass surface of the optical fiber. This shields the glass from hydrogen, water, and corrosive chemicals. The resistance to hydrogen permeation is critical for use in applications such as undersea deployments and down-hole oil wells. Compared to standard single-mode fiber, Corning's hermetic fiber performs five times better in fatigue tests.
Corning has manufactured hermetically coated fibers for more than 15 years and its customers have deployed thousands of kilometers of Corning hermetic fibers in various field applications. The fibers are manufactured through Corning's patented, outside vapor deposition (OVD) process, which yields unparalleled consistency in optical performance and high reliability. The batch-to-batch consistency and quality resulting from the OVD process enables optimized operational costs to the customer.
High-Temperature/Harsh-Environment fibers are part of Corning's extensive portfolio of differentiated specialty-fiber products that generate high value for customers. These products and applications include polarization control; rare, earth-doped gain fibers; power delivery; bend-insensitive fibers; reduced-diameter fibers; band-gap fibers and innovative custom solutions.
--V.C.