Dynamic mechanical analysis on fused polymer optical fibers: towards sensor applications

This Letter presents, for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, the dynamic mechanical analysis of a polymer optical fiber (POF) that was previously damaged by the catastrophic fuse effect. The variation of the fiber Young's modulus was evaluated with respect to the increase of temperature, humidity, and frequency of strain cycles. The obtained data for the fused POF are compared with the ones for the same POF without the fuse effect. The results show the feasibility of the fused POF for sensor applications, such as strain and acceleration measurement, since it presents temperature sensitivity almost two times lower in temperatures between 26°C and 90°C and Young's modulus 2.3 times lower than those obtained with the bare fiber. The Young's modulus variation with the humidity is 1.5 MPa/%RH in a humidity range of 66-96%. In addition, the fused POF presented a variation of its dynamic modulus with the frequency increase four times lower than non-fused POFs on the range of 0.01-100.00 Hz. These results pave the way for future applications of fused POFs as sensing elements.