Plastic Optical Fiber Lifetime Reliability

The lifetime of POF has been a major concern among those who actually utilize POF for lighting, decorating, sensing, and data communication.  As regards for home networking, special emphasis is placed on long-term reliability.  Mitsubishi, as one of the POF manufacturers has presented high-temperature accelerated test data, however it is not simple to presume the lifetime of POF installed under actual circumstances.  The strenuous study on reliability of POF has been done at BAM and they have presented these results currently. Since Mitsubishi also keeps studying the lifetime of POF, they report the results from our experiments in presuming the lifetime of POF under such circumstances as in-house cabling.  Lifetime of PMMA core POF has been estimated through accelerated condition-aging tests.  Arrhenius type behavior is presumed for the estimations.

The estimation suggests that at room temperature, the lifetime is approximately 100 years.*

*Real environment cases that have more complex factors such as chemical conditions, mechanical stress or exposure to high-energy radiation may influence the lifespan.

Below is the technical testing data and analysis

POF Lifetime Reliability Testing Data and Analysis

This information is presented as a guide for product selection. It is subject to change without notice, and should not be regarded as a representation, warranty, or guarantee with regard to the quality, characteristics or use of this product.