JP2000292651A - Component for optical fiber connector and its manufacture - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a base for a light adapter capable of reducing energy cost by simple and inexpensive equipment without requiring equipment such as an expensive molding machine and a metal mold, excellent in dimensional stability, easy in control and easily manufacturable by performing dimensional finishing by removing a wire after forming a metallic or plastic wire in a bar shape as a matrix by electrocasting. SOLUTION: First of all, a thin bar is manufactured by electrocasting using a metallic or nonmetallic wire 9 as a cathode, and then, the wire 9 is removed by pulling out or pushing out or melting the wire 9, and then, the final finishing is performed by an automatic machine such as an NC machine. Generally, a wire being unmeltable in chemicals and having high tensile strength uses pulling-out or pushing-out, and a wire easily meltable in the chemicals uses melting. Since the wire 9 such as aluminum or the alloy and copper or the alloy easily melt in an acid or an alkali aqueous solution, removal by melting is mainly used. Actually, a strong alkali aqueous solution such as sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide of about 10 to 30 w/v% is used.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a component for an optical fiber connector and a method for manufacturing the same.
More specifically, the fiber optic connector is
By supporting an optical fiber with a cross section of a perfect circle and a thickness of about 0.13 mmφ through a cylindrical tube, the positions of the cores at the center of the optical fiber are accurately aligned to achieve connection. It is made up of parts,
The present invention relates to a tubular part generally called a ferrule that supports an optical fiber in the center thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a tubular part for supporting an optical fiber, which is one of the parts for an optical fiber connector, has, for example, a shape as shown in FIGS.
The use of zirconia ceramics is dominant. FIG. 1A shows a single-core tubular part 1 having a length of 8 mm.
A circular hole 2 having a cylindrical shape of about mm and a diameter of 0.126 mmφ is formed at the center, and FIG. 1B shows a two-core type.

[0003] In the production, first, a mixture of zirconia powder and a resin is used as a raw material and molded by injection molding, extrusion molding, etc., then baked at a temperature of about 500 ° C. to decompose the resin, and then about 1200 ° C. After baking at a high temperature, it is performed by a laborious method of accurately dimensioning by hand through a linear diamond polishing body, but there are many problems as follows.

First, since injection molding, extrusion molding, etc. are employed, expensive dedicated molding machines and molds are required. In addition, extremely hard zirconia powder makes the abrasion of molding machines and molds extremely easy to proceed, resulting in durability. The running cost due to lack of performance has become a problem, and if a special molding machine or mold made of a material having a hard surface is adopted as a countermeasure, the machine becomes more expensive.

Second, firing at a high temperature of 500 to 1200 ° C. increases energy costs and wastes energy resources.

Third, because of the low dimensional stability described above, it is necessary to measure the size with a linear diamond polished body. Therefore, the cost must be increased due to the consumption of expensive diamond polished bodies and manual work must be performed. Since there is difficulty in being able to do so and a high level of skill of the worker is required, the dimensional defect rate tends to be high, and it takes time and effort to manage the dimensions.

[0007] Fourth, productivity must be low because the operator must rely on highly skilled manual work.

Fifth, conventionally, the single core type as shown in FIG. 1 (a) has predominantly occupied the mainstream, but the double core type as shown in FIG. Because the above multi-core type came to be required,
In particular, there is a problem that the polishing dimensioning step using a diamond polishing body is extremely difficult, and if the number of cores is three or more, manufacturing becomes substantially impossible, particularly in terms of cost.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above,
It does not require expensive molding machines, molds and other equipment, is simple and inexpensive equipment, has low energy costs, has good dimensional stability, is easy to manage, does not require special skills of workers, and is therefore defective. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method in which the rate is low, the productivity is extremely high, and even a component for an optical fiber connector for two or more cores can be extremely easily manufactured.

[0010]

According to the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, for example, electroforming using a metal or non-metal wire 9 as a cathode as shown in the schematic diagram of FIG.
First, a thin rod was manufactured, and then the wire 9 was removed by pulling out, extruding, or dissolving the wire 9, and then the final finishing was performed by an automatic machine such as an NC machine.

More specifically, FIG. 2 includes an electroforming solution 3, a positive electrode 4, a support jig 5, an air stirring nozzle 6, a spring 7, a negative electrode 8, and a wire 9.

The electroforming liquid 3 is different depending on the material of the target electroformed metal. For example, nickel or its alloy, iron or its alloy, copper or its alloy, cobalt or its alloy, tungsten alloy, Electroformed metals such as particle-dispersed metals can be adopted, and nickel sulfamate, nickel chloride, nickel sulfate, ferrous sulfamate, ferrous borofluoride, copper pyrophosphate, copper sulfate, copper borofluoride, copper silicate fluoride , A liquid mainly containing an aqueous solution such as copper copper fluoride, copper alkanol sulfonate, cobalt sulfate, sodium tungstate, or a silicon carbide cord, tungsten carbide, boron carbide, zirconium oxide, silicon nitride cord, A liquid in which powder such as alumina and diamond is dispersed is used. Among these, a bath containing nickel sulfamate as a main component is particularly suitable in terms of ease of electroforming, variety of physical properties such as hardness, chemical stability, and ease of welding. Then, the electroforming liquid is subjected to high-speed filtration with a filter having a filtration accuracy of about 0.1 to 2 μm,
Further, the temperature was controlled by heating to an appropriate temperature range of about ± 5 ° C., and sometimes an organic carbon treatment was performed to remove organic impurities, and a nickel-plated iron corrugated plate was used as an anode, and a carpon was used as a cathode. It is desirable to remove a metal impurity such as copper by applying a current at a low current density of about 2 A / dm ² .

The positive electrode 4 differs depending on the intended electroformed metal, and is selected from nickel, iron, copper, cobalt and the like, and a plate-like or spherical one is appropriately used. When a spherical material is used, it may be put in a titanium basket and covered with a polyester cloth bag. In addition, the configuration is such that four plus electrodes are arranged around the line 9.

In the case of a single-core type, the support jig 5 has, for example, a configuration as shown in FIG. 3, in which an upper plate 10 and a lower plate 11 are fixed by screws with four columns 12. 10 and the lower plate 11 use an electrically insulating material such as a polyvinyl chloride resin, a polyamide resin, a polyacetal resin, or a polyethylene resin, and the support 12 uses a metal or a plastic such as stainless steel or titanium. The upper plate 10, the lower plate 11 and the support 12 are fixed with screws, and a stainless steel spring 7 is fixed to the center of the upper plate 10 with a stainless screw 13. A plastic clip 15 is fixed to the center of the lower plate 11 with screws, and circular holes 14 for air nozzles are formed in four places. The wire 9 is first fixed to the hook 16 of the spring 6 made of stainless steel, the wire 9 is pulled, the spring 7 is stretched, the clip 9 is sandwiched while the wire 9 is stretched, and the wire 9 is pulled to make the wire 9 straight.

When the supporting jig 5 is a two-core type,
For example, the configuration shown in FIG. 4 is the same as that of the single core type, except that two auxiliary members 17 made of plastic are provided between the upper plate 10 and the lower plate 11 and the center of the auxiliary member 17 is provided. The part is provided with a plastic wire holding member 18 having two holes 19 and a stainless steel screw 13.
And the clip 15 are provided in two places. In addition, it is desirable to provide a solder portion 25 at an intermediate portion of the line in order to maintain the interval and parallelism of the line.

In the case of a three-core type or more, similarly, the wire holding member 18 is changed to a special one, and the stainless steel screw 13 is used.
And the number of clips 15 may be increased. However, the method for holding the wire 9 is not limited to the above-described method, and for example, a method using a weight instead of a spring for pulling the wire can be adopted.

In the case of the two-core type or more, since high accuracy is required as described above, the above-mentioned cross section is not a circular line, but a line having a cross-sectional shape other than a circle as shown in FIG. May be used. That is, in FIG.
Is an elliptical line of a two-core type, (b) is a triangle with an R at the corner and is a three-core type, (c) is a square line with an R at the corner and is a four-core type, d) is a rectangular line having an R at a corner and a five-core type, (e) is a rectangular line having an R at a corner and is a six-core type, and (f) is a hexagonal line having an R at the corner. It is a seven-core type. (G) is a quadrilateral type with a rectangular line. However, in FIGS. 5A to 5F,
There is no problem even if R is not provided at the corner. When these wires are used, the same method as in the case of the single core type may be used.

Then, a small amount of air is blown out from the hole of the air blowing nozzle 6 to perform the stirring. However, the stirring is not limited to the air stirring, and other stirring such as propeller, ultrasonic wave, and super vibration can be adopted. Ultrasonic stirring is particularly preferable in view of maintaining the linearity of the line 9.

The wire 9 is made of a metal wire such as iron or its alloy, aluminum or its alloy, copper or its alloy, a thin solder-plated metal wire, and a plastic wire such as nylon, polyester, or Teflon. Is appropriately selected and used. Among them, in the case of a plastic wire, electroless plating of nickel, silver, or the like is required to impart conductivity to the surface. The line 9 is required to have high accuracy in thickness, roundness, and linearity, and the thickness, roundness, and linearity may be adjusted by a method such as extrusion using a die, drawing, or centerless processing. Further, in the case of a multi-core type wire having a cross-sectional shape other than the above-described circular shape, accurate dimensions can be obtained by extrusion with a die or the like.

The electroforming is performed using the above-described apparatus. In the electroforming, a DC current is grown at a current density of about 7 to 10 A / dm ² to a thickness of 3 mmφ in about one day. ,
The wire 9 is removed by pulling out or dissolving in a heated acid or alkali aqueous solution. In the case of a solder-plated metal wire, it may be pulled out while heating. Further, a method of extruding with a carbide pin 22 using a guide 21 as shown in FIG. 6 may be adopted. In this case, it is desirable to melt the electroformed wire 9 slightly with a chemical before carrying out.

Depending on the type of the wire 9 to be selected, it is determined whether the wire 9 at the center of the electroformed product is pulled out, extruded, or dissolved by a chemical. However, it is generally difficult to dissolve in the chemical and has a high tensile strength. Objects use drawing or extrusion, and those that are readily soluble in chemicals use dissolution. For example, in the case of iron or an alloy thereof, after the wire 9 is subjected to a release treatment, as shown in FIG.
0 and electroforming was performed, and the electroformed product 23 shown in FIG.
The line 9 can be pulled out from the. In the case of the above-mentioned solder-plated metal wire and electroless-plated plastic wire,
The wire may be pulled out by a similar method without releasing treatment, and in the case of a solder-plated metal wire, it may be pulled out while heating. Among these, a stainless steel wire, which is an iron alloy, is particularly desirable, and it has been experimentally possible to draw out a wire of about 0.126 mmφ to a length of about 50 mm.

In the case of the wire 9 made of aluminum or its alloy, copper or its alloy or the like, the wire 9 is easily dissolved in an acid or alkali aqueous solution, and therefore, removal by dissolution is mainly used. In particular, it is desirable that aluminum or its alloy is easily dissolved in a strong alkaline aqueous solution that hardly affects the electroformed metal. Specifically, about 10 to 30% w / v% of sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide is used. It can be easily dissolved and removed at about 100 ± 3 ° C. using an alkaline aqueous solution.
It could be dissolved and removed in about a minute. In this case, there is no need to pull out the wire, so there is no need to cover it with an electrical insulator as shown in FIG. 7 and perform electroforming.
Need not be performed.

In the finishing process, in the case of drawing, after the electroformed portion is drawn as long as possible, NC
The final finishing process may be performed by machining. In the case of melting, after electroforming with a single rod, cutting to an approximate length, melting the wire 9 and confirming that the hole has penetrated the core, and then finishing by NC machining, or What is necessary is just to employ | adopt the method of making dissolution into the last process.

[0024]

According to the method of the present invention, an electroforming method using a wire completely different from the conventional method is employed, so that an expensive molding machine and a mold are not required, and inexpensive electroforming equipment and wires are used. It is only necessary to have a small NC processing machine, and since it does not fire at high temperature, the energy cost is low, and the dimensional transfer accuracy, which is a feature of electroforming, is extremely good, so it is necessary to measure the hole size of the product There is no need to manage only the thickness of the line, so it is easy to manage, and since there is almost no manual work and there is no need for skilled workers, the defect rate is low, productivity is high, and Even if it is an optical fiber connector component for two or more cores, it can be easily manufactured.

[0025]

(Example 1) An example of the present invention will be described below. An aluminum alloy wire having a circular cross section of 0.126 mmφ is prepared, and is pulled by an elasticity of a spring into an electroforming jig as shown in FIG. It was set in the state, and the surface of the wire was thoroughly wiped with gauze soaked with petroleum benzine to perform degreasing. On the other hand, in the electroforming bath containing nickel sulfamate as a main component, four anodes each having nickel balls put in a titanium net put in a polyester bag in four corners centering on the wire, and the electroforming bath was 1 μm. A high-speed filtration was performed with a filtration accuracy of, and a tank heated to 55 ± 5 ° C. was prepared. Then, after thoroughly washing the electroforming jig with water, the jig is set as shown in FIG.
Electroforming was carried out for one day at a current density of about A / dm ² to obtain a nickel electroformed product having an average thickness of about 3 mmφ. This electroformed product was processed by an NC automatic processing machine and processed to a length of 8.50 mm. This processed product was immersed in a 20% aqueous sodium hydroxide solution heated to 100 ± 3 ° C. for 3 hours to completely dissolve and remove the aluminum alloy wire. It was processed to a thickness of 2.00 mm and a length of 8.00 mm with a processing machine to obtain a finished product. The product manufactured in this way was within a predetermined standard and had no problem.

(Embodiment 2) A circular section is 0.126 mm.
A SUS304 wire having a diameter of φ was prepared, set in an electroforming jig in the same manner as in Example 1 described above, and adhered at intervals of 40 mm with a vinyl adhesive tape as shown in FIG. The set electroforming jig was washed with water, electrolytically degreased and washed with water, and immersed in a commercially available aqueous solution of Nikka Non-Tack A / B mixed liquid manufactured by Nippon Kagaku Sangyo Co., Ltd. for 10 minutes at room temperature to perform mold release treatment. Later
After washing well with water, 1 A at 9 A / dm ²
Electroforming was performed for one day to obtain a nickel electroformed product having an average thickness of about 3 mmφ. A drawing jig 2 as shown in FIG.
4 was set as shown in the figure, the wire 9 was grasped with a pair of pliers, pulled, and pulled out of the electroformed product 23. This electroformed product had a thickness of about 3 mmφ, a length of about 40 mm, and a pore of 0.126 mmφ opened in the core. This electroformed product is processed by a small NC automatic processing machine and has a thickness of 2.00 mm.
The finished product was 8.00 mm long in φ. The product manufactured in this way was within a predetermined standard and had no problem.

Example 3 An aluminum alloy wire shown in FIG. 5A having an elliptical cross section was prepared. The aluminum alloy wire has a cross section of 0.126 mm in short diameter and 0.252 in long diameter.
mm oval. When this aluminum alloy wire was used and manufactured in the same manner as in Example 1, a two-core type product having no problem and within a predetermined standard was obtained.

[0028]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained by the method and configuration described above. The present invention adopts a method by electroforming which is completely different from the conventional method, so that the conventional dedicated and expensive molding machine, the need for a metal mold is improved and the durability is low, and it is inexpensive and durable. It is only necessary to have a general-purpose dragon casting device and an NC processing machine.

Further, according to the present invention, 500 to 500
Since firing is not performed at a high temperature of 1200 ° C. and an electroforming solution at about 60 ° C. is sufficient, energy costs are low and resources are not wasted.

Further, conventionally, since the dimensional stability is low, the step of manually polishing and sizing with a diamond polishing body has been a bottleneck, resulting in an increase in cost due to consumption of expensive polishing bodies and a high level of skill. However, there was a problem that the defect rate was high because of the manual work that required the dimensional control, and there was a problem that it took time to manage the dimensions.However, in the present invention, the dimensional transferability, which is a feature of electroforming, was extremely good. Therefore, there is no need to polish the finished product with a polishing body, and there is almost no manual work. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the defective rate and to facilitate the dimensional control.

Conventionally, there has been a problem that the productivity is low because it can only be performed by highly skilled manual work. However, according to the method of the present invention, the productivity is low because there is almost no manual work. high.

Further, in the conventional method, there is a problem that it is very difficult to determine the polishing size of a multi-core type, and when the number of cores is three or more, it is substantially impossible. However, according to the method of the present invention, It can be easily manufactured with almost no difference from single core type.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view and a side view of an optical fiber connector component according to a conventional method.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing one embodiment of an electroforming manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view and a plan view showing one embodiment of a support jig according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing one embodiment of a two-core type support jig according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of a multi-core type wire having a cross section other than a circle according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing one embodiment of a method for extruding a wire according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing an embodiment of a method for setting electroforming when a wire according to the present invention is pulled out.

FIG. 8 is a side view of an electroformed product when the wire according to the present invention is pulled out.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view illustrating one embodiment of a method for extracting a wire from an electroformed product using a jig when the wire according to the present invention is extracted.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Tubular part 2 True circular hole 3 Electroforming liquid 4 Positive electrode 5 Supporting jig 6 Air stirring nozzle 7 Spring 8 Negative electrode 9 Wire 10 Upper plate 11 Lower plate 12 Support 13 Stainless screw 14 Circular hole 15 Clip 16 Hook 17 Auxiliary member 18 Wire holding member 19 Pores 20 Electrical insulator 21 Guide 22 Carbide pin 23 Electroformed product 24 Pulling jig 25 Solder part

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) G02B 6/40 G02B 6/40

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A component for an optical fiber connector, wherein a metal or plastic wire is used as a matrix, electroformed into a rod shape, and the wire is removed and dimensionally finished. 2. The component for an optical fiber connector according to claim 1, wherein in the method for removing the wire, the component is dissolved with an alkali or an acid. 3. The component for an optical fiber connector according to claim 1, wherein the wire is subjected to an electroforming after the mold release treatment, and the wire is removed from the formed electroformed product by removing the wire. Production method. 4. The component for an optical fiber connector according to claim 1, wherein the wire is subjected to a mold release treatment, electroformed, and the wire is extruded and removed from the formed electroformed product. Production method. 5. The optical fiber according to claim 1, wherein the wire is electroformed using aluminum or an alloy thereof, and then the wire is dissolved and removed with a strong alkaline aqueous solution from the resulting electroformed product. Connector component and method of manufacturing the same. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the wire is made of iron or an alloy thereof, the wire is subjected to a mold release treatment, electroforming is performed, and the wire is drawn out of the formed electroformed product and removed. Item 7. The component for an optical fiber connector according to Item 1, and a method for producing the same. 7. The component for an optical fiber connector according to claim 1, wherein one or a plurality of said wires are used. 8. The component for an optical fiber connector according to claim 1, wherein said wire is of a multi-core type using one wire having a cross section other than circular.