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86 Series

86-series Final Polishing Films are produced by a precision coating of aluminum oxide on a polyester film. These products are used for the final step of polishing fiber optic connectors and will help you achieve a consistently superior surface finish. Our 86 Series is available in a range of grades from 10 nm to 10 microns. Available in discs, sheets, and rolls, with or without pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA).

We offer a polishing film that is cost-effective and works. Create a FREE CHAT and/or set up a FREE CALL to discuss your application. ALL of our support TEAM has been working with polishing, film, and/or interferometry since the ’90s. *We provide FREE evaluation sample Film when available for Polishing Process evaluation and confirmation.

Problem: Seeing Spots and Scratches after Final Film

Possible Solution: Are you Polishing “long enough”? Are you using enough Pressure? Is your Film clean?

Polishing Tip: Understand the requirements (IEC 61300-3-35) driving your Process Controls for repeatability and consistency.

The basic polishing process involves these steps:

Epoxy Removal
Geometry
Final Step: finishing the optical surface

Micro finishing of optical surfaces provides long-term quality with the functionality required by IEC 61300-3-35. High precision optical components are made from many materials from glass through to metals. The components manufacturing process is finished with a polishing process in order to meet optical surface finish requirements.

Epoxy application, epoxy mixing, and/or outgassing are common root causes for seeing scratches with a final film. Also, the cleaning operation of the lapping films, connectors, and polishing fixtures between polishing steps is often a problem. In fact, “cross-contamination” is common when rough lapping film debris isn’t thoroughly removed when starting with a finer grit abrasive film.

Understand the requirements (IEC 61300-3-35) driving your Process Controls for repeatability and consistency

IEC 61300-3-35 Fibre Optic Interconnecting Devices And Passive Components – Basic Test And Measurement Procedures – Part 3-35: Examinations And Measurements – Visual Inspection Of Fibre Optic Connectors And Fibre-Stub Transceivers

IEC 61300-3-35 describes methods for quantitatively assessing the end face quality of a polished fibre optic connector or of a fibre optic transceiver using a fibre-stub type interface. Sub-surface cracks and fractures are not considered in this standard. In general, the methods described in this standard apply to 125 μ cladding fibres contained within a ferrule and intended for use with sources of ≤ 2 W of input power. However, portions are applicable to non-ferruled connectors and other fibre types. Those portions are identified where appropriate. It is not the intention of this standard that the size of scratches should be measured, the dimensions and requirements are selected such that they can be estimated. There is no need to measure for example if a scratch is 2,3 μm wide.