Ferrules: Stainless vs Ceramic in Vibration Environments
If your application is multimode and motion or vibration is present in your installation, the flat polished metal ferrule connector may out perform its more expensive ceramic counterpart.
We know the industry accepts the .5 micron hole precision of ceramic ferrules to be superior to any other material considerations. Today, most ceramic ferrules are manufactured with Zirconia, which has a particle size one tenth that of Alumina.
A Zirconia ceramic ferrule has a pre-radiused curved tip allowing the optical fiber within the two mating ferrules to touch. The result is low loss physical contact optical connection. These described characteristics are desirable and very acceptable until any vibration or motion is introduced into a system.
Aircraft, machine control connections and any other applications need to consider that Zirconia ferrule faces may rub together causing scratching or deep cracking of the glass. Since ceramic composition is granular or sand like, any extensive rubbing suggests deterioration beyond that of metal, which is built around a different molecular structure.
This is an area in a fiber optic installation when less (cost) is more (effective in the long run) for your fiber optic install!
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