Prediction of tensile-strength distribution of optical fibers

A new damage accumulation approach presents an alternative interpretation for the bi-modality of fiber optics strength distribution. This approach is applied in order to improve the prediction of the mechanical reliability of optical fibers. The presented work shows that this approach can be used as an effective tool for the assessment of fibers strength dynamics. The data, obtained by simple tensile tests, is analyzed independent of any fracture mechanics models. The obtained experimental results support the theory of dynamic damage accumulation. It also suggests an alternative way of acceptance testing, quality assurance qualification, assessment the dynamics of fatigue and aging etc.