Formation of Optical Fiber Preform Using Octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane

There are various manufacturing processes for pure SiO2 that is used as abrasives, chemicals, filters, and glasses, and in metallurgy and optical industries. In the optical fiber industry, to produce SiO2 preform, SiCl4 is utilized as a raw material. However, the combustion reaction of SiCl4 has caused critical environmental issues, such as ozone deficiency by chlorine compounds, the greenhouse effect by carbon dioxide and corrosive gas such as hydrochloric acid. Thus, finding an alternative source that does not have those environmental issues is important for the future. Octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (OMCTS or D4) as a chlorine free source is recently promising candidate for the SiO2 preform formation. In this study, we first conducted a vaporizer design to vaporize the OMCTS. The vaporizer for the OMCTS vaporization was produced on the basis of the results of the vaporizer design. The size of the primary particle of the SiO2 formed by OMCTS was less than 100 nm. X-ray diffraction patterns of the SiO2 indicated an amorphous phase. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis revealed the Si-O-Si bond without the -OH group.