In a loose tube, fiber is well shielded from being affected by the surrounding cable elements. By stranding the tube, it is also potential to establish in strain relief from both climatic characteristic changes and mechanical forces.
For these reasons, some variations of the loose tube buildings have found full, use. The loose tube cables are, however, more difficult to desist and connectorize as compared to the tight buffered fiber cables.
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The loose tube can be air filled, but very often a filling gel (compound) is used. The purpose of the filling blend is to preclude water penetration, and it also restricts fiber movements since the blend is much more viscous than air.
If water is present, it can freeze and cause microbends. Water has also a detrimental result on the mechanical impel of the fiber.
The loose tube is ordinarily made of a plastic and has an inner diameter of typically 4-5 times that of the former coated fiber.
Loose tube materials for loose tube cables need to possess a relatively high modulus and good processability. While manufacture, optical fiber is fed into the loose tube at a faster rate than it is being produced so that the optical fiber is laid helically within the tube.
To buffer the fibers from each other and from any perturbations on the tube walls, the loose tube is filled with a gel blend similar in blend to the water blocking gels in accepted telecommunication cables. The loose tube material must therefore be compatible with the gel as in accepted cable insulation.
Polypropylene has been used for loose tube but more recently, polyethylene have come to be more widely used.
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