Fast Room Temperature Cure for Adhesives for Fiber Optic Connectors

Navy fiber optic connectors use a heat cured adhesive to hold the fiber within the connector ferrule. A cure time of twenty minutes at 120¿ C is currently required. A fast curing (< 3 minutes), room temperature cure adhesive with physical properties that meet the current specification (MIL-A-24792) would result in substantial time and cost savings during connector installation. Texas Research Institute Austin, Inc. (TRI/Austin) proposes the formulation of seven different types of fast, room temperature cure adhesive candidates during Phase I. Using these formulations, we believe that a glass transition temperature that is substantially higher than maximum exposure temperature (85¿ C) can be achieved. A bulk material property screening will be performed on these candidates, to determine their compliance with MIL-A-24792. Fiber pushback, fiber pistoning, and fiber adhesion tests will be performed on the two most promising candidates. This work will be carried out by our commercial partner, Bellcore. Additional material property testing will be carried out on the most promising candidate to fully characterize its physical and chemical properties. A dispensing method will be developed that will be compatible with the new fast curing adhesive and that will be tailored to the needs of the end user.