Fiber optic cable is applied as the most advanced communication medium by more and more users. Compared with copper cable, it can support more and better optical signal transmission of voice, data, video, etc. and offer many other advantages. When purchasing fiber optic cables, you must see the cable jacket at first. So what information does the outside jacket tell? What type of cable jacket should you select? Come with me to find the secrets of fiber cable jacket.
Fiber Cable Jacket Introduction
Fiber optic cable is constructed very complicated from the inside core, cladding, coating, strengthen fibers to the outside cable jacket. The core made of plastic or glass is the physical medium for optical signal transmission. As bare fiber can be easily broken, cable outer jacket is needed for fiber protection. The cable jacket is the first line of moisture, mechanical, flame and chemical defense for a cable. Without the jacket, fiber optic cables are very likely to be damaged during and after installation.
Fiber Cable Jacket Characteristics
In most situations, robust cable jacket is better because the environment above or underground may be harsh. For better applications, you’d better take cable jacket seriously. Cable jacket is not as easy as you think. There are many characteristics you need to consider. Except the flexibility, it should withstand very low and high temperature. Whether the cable jacket has the good features of chemical and flame resistance. All these characteristics depend on cable jacket materials.
Fiber Cable Jacket Materials
Cable jacket is made of various types of materials. As mentioned above, the cable jacket should stand the test of different environmental conditions, including the harsh temperature, the sun & the rain, chemicals, abrasion, and so on. The following shows several common cable jacket materials for your reference.
PE (Polyethylene)—PE is the standard jacket material for outdoor fiber optic cables. It has excellent properties of moisture and weather resistance. It also has the good electrical properties over a wide temperature range. Besides, it’s abrasion resistant.
PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride )—PVC is flexible and fire-retardant. It can be used as the jacket materials for both indoor and outdoor cables. PVC is more expensive than PE.
LSZH (Low Smoke Zero Halogen)—LSZH jacket is free of halogenated materials which can be transformed into toxic and corrosive matte during combustion. LSZH materials are used to make a special cable called LSZH cable. LSZH cables produce little smoke and no toxic halogen compounds when these cables catch fire. Based on the benefits, LSZH cable is a good choice for inner installations.
Fiber Cable Jacket Color
Fiber cable jacket color depends on the fiber cable type. Fiber cable includes single-mode and multimode types. For single-mode fiber cable (Blog about single-mode fiber cable please read my blog What Are OM1, OM2, OM3 and OM4?), the jacket color is typically yellow. While for multimode cable ( more details on multimode fiber cable ), the jacket color can be orange (OM1&OM2 cable), aqua (OM3 cable) and purple (OM4 cable). For outside plant cables, the jacket color is black.
How to Choose Fiber Cables?
To choose a fiber optic cable depends on your own applications. I’ll talk about this from two sides of jacket color and jacket material. The cable jacket color is not just for good looking. Different color means different fiber mode. Which one suits you the most, the yellow or orange fiber cable? You should know well about the color codes before buying your fiber cables. What’s more, you should also consider the installation requirements and environmental or long-term requirements. Where will be your fiber cables installed, inside or outside the building? Will your cables be exposed to hash environment very long? This can help you decide which jacket material is the best.
Summary
As a popular data transmission medium, fiber cable plays an important role in communication field. To some degree, the success of fiber connectivity lies in a right fiber cable. How to buy suitable fiber optic cables? This article describes the method from cable jacket. When selecting fiber cable, many other factors still need to be considered. Hope you can get your own fiber cable.
Originally published at www.fiber-optic-equipment.com
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