Oil-in-water emulsion impregnated electrospun poly(ethylene terephthalate) fiber mat as a novel tool for optical fiber cleaning

Dries J G Devlaminck; Md Mahbubor Rahman; Mamoni Dash; Sangram Keshari Samal; Jan Watté; Sandra Van Vlierberghe; Peter Dubruel

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2018.02.035

Oil-in-water emulsion impregnated electrospun poly(ethylene terephthalate) fiber mat as a novel tool for optical fiber cleaning

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2018 Jun 15:520:64-69. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2018.02.035. Epub 2018 Feb 13.

Authors

Dries J G Devlaminck¹, Md Mahbubor Rahman², Mamoni Dash², Sangram Keshari Samal², Jan Watté³, Sandra Van Vlierberghe⁴, Peter Dubruel⁵

Affiliations

¹ Polymer Chemistry and Biomaterials Research Group, Centre of Macromolecular Chemistry, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281, S4 bis, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium; Laboratory for Chemical Technology, Ghent University, Technologiepark 914, B-9052 Zwijnaarde, Ghent, Belgium.
² Polymer Chemistry and Biomaterials Research Group, Centre of Macromolecular Chemistry, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281, S4 bis, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
³ Commscope, Diestsesteenweg 692, B-3010 Leuven, Belgium.
⁴ Polymer Chemistry and Biomaterials Research Group, Centre of Macromolecular Chemistry, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281, S4 bis, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium; Brussels Photonics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
⁵ Polymer Chemistry and Biomaterials Research Group, Centre of Macromolecular Chemistry, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281, S4 bis, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium. Electronic address: Peter.Dubruel@UGent.be.

PMID: 29529462
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2018.02.035

Abstract

Hypothesis: The complete removal of remaining polymer debris after stripping of optical fiber cables is essential for high precision connection between two fibers. It can be anticipated that electrospun porous membranes as cleaning wipes are able to trap and retain polymer debris within their pores. Impregnation of an oil-in-water emulsion as cleaning agent lowers the interfacial tension between debris and the optical fiber thereby enabling the straightforward removal of polymer debris from the optical fiber.

Experiments: Electrospun membranes of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and cellulose acetate (CA) were obtained with fiber diameters of 0.430 μm and 2 μm respectively. The oil-in-water emulsion was formulated with 10 wt% medium chain triglyceride (MCT) and 10 wt% Tween 80 surfactant in an aqueous phosphate buffer solution.

Findings: In a scoring range from 0 to 5 for which the score 0 indicated superior cleaning and the score 5 referred to the least efficient cleaning, the electrospun fiber mats (without emulsion) scored within the range of 2-4 while emulsion impregnated electrospun fiber mats revealed the best score of 0. A drastic improvement was thus clearly evident from the obtained results when the cleaning emulsion was applied. The materials developed herein thus represent a new class of soft cleaning agents for optical fibers.

Keywords: Cleaning emulsion; Electrospinning; Medium chain triglycerides; Oil-in-water emulsion; Optical fiber; Poly(ethylene terephthalate); Polymer fibers.