![]() I recall training a fiber-optic distributor and gently suggesting to the owner that IPA was not the best choice for cleaning fiber. There is another reason: IPA is inexpensive and often purchased from a drug store. Amazingly, more as a nod to tradition than effectiveness, IPA remains on the list. Today the list has been abbreviated to just a few, proven choices. Most of the exotic (and ineffective) practices died out due to economic, environmental, performance or worker-safety concerns. Isopropyl alcohol, IPA, leaves residue on a fiber endface, as documented by this microphotograph. I even have seen companies using unconventional cleaning fluids, such as dishwashing detergent and SimpleGreen. New chemicals such as hydrofluoroethers (HFE) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) entered the market. Precision hydrocarbons were tried and “tweaked” to minimize environmental issues. ![]() Some companies used alcohol in different mixtures. Throughout the 1990s numerous new solvent choices evolved to replace ozone-depleting chemicals, and some of these experiments migrated into the fiber-optic industry. Far too often splicers and endface cleaners forget to send each other “the memo”: Do not use this chemical for every fiber cleaning application. But IPA commonly is packaged and promoted for fusion-splice prep. IEC 6 clearly states that IPA is no longer acceptable for endface cleaning. The existing standard for endface cleaning is confusing. Optical fiber must be pristine to transmit reliably and to splice properly. “Clean” directly equates to more-reliable transmissions and mechanically stronger splices. Stains and debris on an optical surface will degrade the transmission of the signal. In fiber optics, this is not merely a cosmetic issue. The basic reason to clean is as simple as the stain on your shirt. Over the past 20 years, the precision cleaning industry has developed high-performance products that cost less, are safer to use and perform better than traditional alcohol cleaners. So here’s the headline: To get the most from their investments in advanced fiber equipment, companies must update their cleaning processes and stop using IPA. This image taken by an interferometer shows alcohol residues on a fiber-optic endface. But as new and advanced as modern fiber networks might be, most technicians still are cleaning them with the same fluid used in the 1960s: isopropyl alcohol, also called IPA. Both are essential to deployment of reliable, high-capacity networks. The first is “prep” before a fusion splice. In the world of fiber optics, there only are two truly critical precision cleaning operations.
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