Tobias Schlüter

Fabrication techniques for polymer optical fibres

Abstract There are a lot of different possibilities to manufacture polymer optical fibres. Regarding the final application, such as data transmission, lighting, or sensors, and the requirements concerning the polymer optical fibres, it is distinguished between step-index polymer optical fibres and graded-index polymer optical fibres. This chapter briefly summarizes the existing manufacturing techniques for step-index and graded-index polymer optical fibres and compares the advantages and the disadvantages of each process. At first the discontinuous manufacturing techniques for polymer optical fibres are discussed. These include preform production, heat drawing and batch extrusion. Finally the continuous manufacturing techniques are discussed. These include continuous extrusion, photochemical polymerization, co-extrusion, dry-spinning, melt-spinning and a modified melt-spinning process for the production of graded-index polymer optical fibres.

Sustainability in Luxury Textile Applications: A Contradiction or a New Business Opportunity?

The recycling of textiles is heavily based on the material type and treatment of the fibre material. Especially materials that do not allow a recovery of the raw material in virgin material quality limit the possibilities of textile recycling significantly. This circumstance leads to great amounts of accumulating worldwide textile waste that is not yet processed into new valuable products. In this section, the authors will show two strategies for the re-use and recycling of high valuable fibre materials like polyamide and carbon used in luxury applications. Afterwards, two case studies are presented to validate the presented concepts.