The fiber optic panel is an image transmission component composed of countless closely arranged optical fibers, capable of transmitting images from one end to the other in a true and clear manner. It is widely used in high-end fields such as aerospace, medical endoscopy, and military observation. Traditional fiber optic panels are mainly made of quartz glass, which, despite its excellent performance, also has issues such as heavy weight, fragility, high cost, and low biocompatibility.

In recent years, with the development of polymer materials science, plastic optical fiber panels have gradually entered the research and industrial fields. Due to its advantages such as light weight, good flexibility, low cost, and ease of processing and coupling, it has become a potential material to replace traditional glass optical fiber panels. Recently, a study conducted by the team of China Building Materials Optical Fiber Technology Co., Ltd. systematically revealed the key process issues in the preparation of plastic optical fiber panels and proposed effective improvement plans, providing an important reference for the practical promotion of this technology.

Plastic fiber optic panel: why is it highly anticipated?

The plastic optical fiber panel is primarily made of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), which boasts high transparency, excellent mechanical properties, and good weather resistance and formability. Compared to glass, PMMA has a lower density, significantly reducing the overall weight of the panel and making it more suitable for weight-sensitive applications such as drone cameras and portable medical devices. Furthermore, plastic optical fibers possess advantages such as resistance to electromagnetic interference, corrosion resistance, and bendability, enabling stable operation in some special environments. With continuous advancements in materials and processes, the imaging quality of plastic optical fiber panels has gradually approached that of traditional glass panels, while offering greater design flexibility and cost control space.

Research core: process optimization and imaging quality improvement

This study utilizes low-loss plastic optical fibers as raw materials to prepare fiber optic panels through a process route involving the prefabrication of polymer optical fiber rods, drawing into filaments, arranging into sheets, and hot pressing into shape. In the experiment, it was found that the main factors affecting imaging clarity include:

(1) The impact of water vapor on plastic optical fiber panels

Plastic optical fibers have a certain water absorption capacity. If water vapor enters the interior of the fiber in the environment, white opaque circles will form on the surface of the panel after hot pressing, seriously affecting imaging. The research team effectively eliminated this phenomenon through pre-drying treatment.

(II) The influence of temperature and time on plastic optical fiber panels

Polymers exhibit time-temperature equivalence, meaning that prolonging the holding time is equivalent to increasing the temperature. Therefore, to obtain a clear and complete polymer optical fiber panel, reducing the temperature and prolonging the holding time are better choices. Plastic optical fibers have a low thermal conductivity, which means it takes longer for heat to transfer from the surrounding area to the center. A reasonable holding time is beneficial for producing a plastic optical fiber panel with good imaging quality.

The results indicate that with the increase of holding time, the imaging performance of the plastic optical fiber panel initially improves and then deteriorates. The optimal holding time is 6 hours, which is 2 hours longer than the theoretical holding time.

(III) Multifilament boundary clarity

During the hot pressing process, excessive pressure can lead to damage to the multifilament boundary and blurry imaging. By optimizing the prefabrication process of the fiber optic rod, ensuring a smooth drawing surface, and reducing the hot pressing pressure and down pressure scale, a panel with clear boundaries and complete imaging was finally obtained.

After the aforementioned process optimization, adjusting the prefabrication process of polymer optical fiber rods and preparing multifilaments with clean surfaces can reduce the impact of impurities on the multifilament boundaries, lower the hot pressing pressure, decrease the pressing scale, and produce plastic optical fiber panels with clear and complete imaging. This method can reduce the production cost of optical fiber panels and achieve lighter weight.

(This article is based on the article "Improvement of Plastic Optical Fiber Panel" from the second issue of "Plastics Technology" in 2025. Authors: Liu Yongmei, Chang Guilong, Wang Sanzhao, Shi Pan, Liu Haoran, Ming Yuetong. Research unit: China Building Materials Optical Fiber Technology Co., Ltd.)

Source: [1] Liu Yongmei, Chang Guilong, Wang Sanzhao, et al. Improvement of Plastic Optical Fiber Panel [J]. Plastics Science and Technology, 2025, 53(2): 127-130