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Causes of Mechanical
Splice Termination
Failures
FTTH (fiber to the home) has become increasingly popular in optical communication industry. Fiber
optic termination, as one of the topics which have never been out of fashion in this field, has
naturally become a focus of FTTH network deployment, especially the indoor termination. In FTTH
network, mechanical splice connectors are usually used in FTTH indoor termination with the
advantages of flexibility, fast-installation and cost-effective. Currently manufactures can provide
various types of mechanical splice connectors of high quality which have low insertion loss and high
performance. However, no matter how excellent the mechanical splicing technology is, there are
still fiber optic termination failures and bad fiber optic termination due to improper operation. To
avoid it, this post is to offer the causes of mechanical splice termination failures.

The Basic of Mechanical splicing

Before finding the cause of mechanical splice failure, the basic of mechanical splicing should be
introduced. To finish a mechanical splice, the buffer coatings of fiber optic should be removed
mechanically with sharp blades or calibrated stripping tools. In any type of mechanical stripping, the
key is to avoid nicking the fiber. Then the fibers will be cleaved. Two fiber ends are then held closely
in retaining and aligning a mechanical splice connector with some index matching gel between
them. The gel are used to form a continuous optical path between fibers and reduce reflecting
losses.

Causes of Mechanical Splice Termination Failures

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Mechanical splice connector is sensitive to many factors. There are also a large number of factors to
cause failures. However, most of the factors are located at the end face of fiber optic. The following
is to describe them in details.

Contamination

When facing mechanical splice failures, there would be no argument that contamination is the first
thing to think about. There are many ways that contamination can be carried into the fiber
termination splices. Generally, there are the following possible causes of splice contamination:

Using a dirty cleave tool: as the fiber should be cleave before inserted in the connector, a fiber
optic cleaves would be used. If a dirty cleave is used, the contamination would be attached on
the end face of the fiber optic and be embedded in the connector. Thus, do remember to clean
the surfaces thoroughly with alcohol wipes;
Wiping the fiber after cleaving;
Setting the connector or fiber down on a dusty surface;
Heavy airborne dust environment;
Glass fragments from insertion broken fibers, or applying excessive force;
Polluted index matching gel.

Please note that once the contamination is carried inside the mechanical splice connector,
especially with the index matching gel, there would be little possibility to clean them out, which
means the connector may be scrapped.

Glass Fragmentation

Improper operation like overexertion when inserting the fiber optic into the mechanical splice
connector might break the fiber optic and produce glass fragmentation which will cause air gap and
optical failure. Or if a broken fiber if inserted, there will also be optical failure. If the glass fragments
are embedded in the connector, they cannot be cleaned out and the connector would be scrapped.
Thus, be gentle and carefully when splicing the fiber ends.

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Bad Cleave

Cleaving the fiber optic is an important step during fiber optic mechanical splicing. The quality of
the cleave can decide the quality of the optical splice transmission to some degree. It is not easy to
inspect the cleave quality in the field. There are several possibilities there might cause the bad
cleaves:

Dull or chipped cleave tool blade

The bent tongue on the cleave tool concentrated too much bend stress on the fiber
Bending the fiber too much or too tight of a radius
Applying no tension or insufficient tension to the fiber while cleaving.

Excessive Fiber Gap

Fiber gap is another factor that might cause the fiber optic termination failure. The fiber optic
transmission is very sensitive to the gap between two fiber ends in the mechanical splice connector.
Improper operations that might cause the excessive fiber gap are listed as following:

Cleaving the fiber without enough lengths;

The fiber is not fully inserted, or pulled back during termination;
The fiber was not held steady during termination and was pushed back into the fan-out tubing
when terminating outdoor cable.

These faults can be corrected one time.

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Excessive Cleave Angle

During fiber cleaving, cleave angle can be produced easily and is difficult to be inspected in field.
These angles are typically ranging from 1 to 3 degree. Even with precision tool, there might still be
cleave angle ranging from 0.5 to 1 degree. The angle is generally produced by bent tongue, fiber
bending or insufficient fiber tension.

However the cleave angles can be corrected by fine tuning with a VFL (visual fault locator). Rotating
the fiber while using a VFL and terminate the connector at the position (as shown in the following
picture).

Conclusion

Fiberstore (FS.COM) | Causes of Mechanical Splice Termination Failures

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Fiber optic mechanical splicing gives quick and high quality result at a low price for fiber optic
termination. Choosing the right fiber optic mechanical splice connector and fiber optic cleaver of
high quality is not enough. Acknowledge the possible causes to fiber optic termination failures and
use the right tools with skills can reduce the risk of termination failure effectively.

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Notice: This document is for informational purposes only and does not set forth any warranty, expressed or
implied, concerning any equipment, equipment features, or service offered or to be offered by Fiberstore.
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Fiberstore (FS.COM) | Causes of Mechanical Splice Termination Failures