PURPOSE: To coat the outer circumference of an optical fiber with a reinforcing metal layer in high adhesion, by passing a spun optical fiber through molten metallic coating material under application of ultrasonic vibration.
CONSTITUTION: The metal coating crucible 4 furnished with the fiber-insertion nozzle 21 extended vertically from the tip of the metal flow-out pipe 5, is placed in the path of the spun optical fiber 3. The tip of the flow-out pipe 5 is also furnished with the ultrasonic vibrator 22. The metallic coating material 7 charged to the crucible 4 is molten by the furnace 8 and the spun optical fiber 3 is passed from the insertion hole 6 of the crucible 4 through the nozzle 21, and at the same time, ultrasonic vibration generated by the ultrasonic oscillator 23 is applied to the molten metallic coating material 7 flowing through the flow-out pipe 5 and the nozzle 21. The bonding surface of the fiber 3 is defoamed and the wetting reaction of the molten metal at the coating interface is accelerated by the ultrasonic vibration, and the metal-coated optical fiber 3' can be manufactured by this process.
OKAMURA KOUJI
YUASA MITSUO
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