wiredInUSA April 2018

as 12 individually protected sub-units, each with 288 closely packed fibers.

consider the super-absorbent technology when manufacturing or specifying cables. Damaged cables can take on water. An SAF spun yarn will rapidly absorb the water at the point of damage and swell to form a water impermeable barrier, blocking further ingress. Such yarns are cost-effective and lightweight, and the absorption rate and swell height can meet specification by selecting the most appropriate fiber grades/blends. “There are potential cost reductions to be made,” explained commercial director,Paul Rushton. “In some instances, it is possible to just use the one type of SAF spun yarn throughout the whole cable. “As a result, manufacturers could make some significant savings on water-blocking raw materials and not have to stock-pile different products.” The yarns are supplied on bobbins, easy to onward process, require fewer line stops and can be wrapped around or placed along the length of a cable in voids vulnerable to water penetration. As the SAF is spun with other staple fibers the yarns have excellent absorbency profiles, and shedding and dusting is limited. “We are simply asking the cable industry to trial SAF spun yarns,” said Mr Rushton: “Either in conjunction with other water-blocking materials or alone.”

An extruded color-coded jacket protects and identifies each bundle and allows for direct and easy routing to splice trays, without the need for additional materials, ribboning processes, or furcation kits. “RocketRibbon extreme-density cable demonstrates how we work hand-in- hand with our customers, listening to their challenges. “In this case, we developed an entirely new system of ribbon protection and sub- units that provide our customers with easier, faster cable access for ribbon identification and splicing,” said Bernhard Deutsch, vice president and general manager, Corning optical fiber and cable. Dry fiber Super Absorbent Fibre (SAF TM ) has been used in the cable industry, in spun yarn format, for a number of years and is established as a raw material for water- blocking applications. Its manufacturer, Technical Absorbents, is workingtoraisefurtherawarenessofdryspun SAF yarns and to encourage stakeholders to

wiredInUSA - April 2018

102