Optical Fiber Inks

Glass fibres

Since the start of the industrial production of optical fibre cables and the necessity of applying colour coding as a means of distinction. HERKULA is a supplier of special inks to the industry throughout the world. Today, the product line FibreCoat is an important segment of HERKULA. It all started back in 1984 when HERKULA was the first company to introduce UV-curing inks for optical fibre coatings. Based on laboratory experiments in St. Vith the development of inks and matrix materials for colouring and processing of glass fibres was achieved on the basis of UV curing resins. Together with significant improvements in chemical and mechanical resistance, such coatings eliminate the VOC emissions of the solventbased inks used before. The breakthrough of the new technology came under the product names HERKULA UltraCoat OF 808 and 809. Today, the original solvent-based inks are completely replaced by UV-curing products. Over the years the product portfolio has been supplemented by further products for the coating of optical fibres such as “tight buffer” materials.

FibreCoat

HERKULA produces the UV-curing inks in the 12 shades usual in the industry according to the specifications of the various telecoms companies (RAL, IEC, Munsell, Telstra etc.). As an additional differentiator the inks can also be equipped with luminescence.

Production speed up to 3000 m∙min^-1

Tight buffer and other materials (e.g. ribbon, CFU, micro-modules etc.)

• Very hard yet flexible UV-curable resins for outer coatings
• Soft or flexible UV-curable resins for inner coatings
• Special oils and UV-curable resins for inner lubricant coating
• Other functional Tight Buffer materials:
  • Thermally-stable
  • Flame-retardant
  • Water-barrier