Surfactant effect on DLP fabrication of silica fibre preforms

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) printing based on digital light processing (DLP), for its great advantage in dealing with material and structural complexities, is being engaged for the fabrication of custom-designed silica optical fibre preforms. Resin preparation and printing are key processes critical to DLP fabrication of optical fibre preforms with high silica loading. In this work, the surfactant effect on preparation of resin and DLP printing of optical fibre preforms for higher silica loading is investigated. Based on our experimental studies of the rheological and photocuring properties of resins and the quality of printed silica fibre preforms, we find that, in the case where 2-phenoxyethanol (POE) is usually added as the surfactant, the resin has higher viscosity and results in poorer preform quality. By removing POE from resin ingredients and designing a multi-step resin processing with appropriate settling and degassing processes, fibre preforms with high silica loading up to 0.8 (w/w) have been successfully fabricated.