Draw Tower Gratings in standard 125um and 80um diameter (cladding) are known to have some unique properties for embedding inside composite materials, such as reduced micro-bend induced losses. However as certain embedded applications require even smaller fiber diameters, a new DTG fiber was developed with a cladding diameter of 60um. The benefit of this 60µm DTG fiber is that it is less intrusive within the host material, yet still offering identical performance to that of the larger diameter DTG fibers.

These 60µm DTG fibers also offer unique advantages for other applications where smaller bend radii are needed (e.g. catheters for medical applications) or an increased load sensitivity are needed (e.g. acoustic sensors).

The 60µm DTG fiber has been developed in the framework of the SmartFiber Project set out to develop a microsystem for continuous health monitoring of composite structures, small enough to be embedded into the host material.

For more information about this 60µm DTG fiber and its embedding into composites, please click here.