Radiation-curable coatings suitable for high-speed application onto optical fibers

摘要

Inner and outer primary and matrix material compositions which, after curing, exhibit a high degree of uniformity after curing even when the coating is applied onto optical fibers at relatively high shear rates, e.g., such as those experienced at high optical fiber coating line speeds. These compositions are provided in significant part by the selective incorporation of at least one radiation-curable oligomer into the compositions. In particular, and with respect to inner primary coatings, the oligomer should be selected so that the value m of an uncured radiation-curable inner primary coating composition in the equation $\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{tau}=\frac{K\mathrm{lambda}\mathrm{gamma}}{1+{\left(\mathrm{lambda}\mathrm{gamma}\right)}^m}& \left(I\right)\end{array}$ is advantageously equal to or greater than about 0.90.