Mechanical strength and reliability in silica fiber light guides

Previously abstracted from original as item 9201-F2-c-0171. Questions of the reliability, and in particular the prediction of the service life of quartz fibre light guides over long periods (up to 25 years), are considered. The method of assessing reliability is based on preliminary testing of long quartz fibres for rewinding with a force three to five times greater than the service load, and also on measuring the mechanical parameters of quartz fibre material characterising the distribution density of defects or cracks and their growth rates when the fibre is subjected to mechanical forces.