The Oasis SAF® Solution
There are essentially two key modes of protecting cable from water ingress – longitudinal (active system) and radical blocking (passive system). The historically dominant method – especially for telecoms cables – is petrogel, which effectively fills all of the available spaces within the cable. The petrogel adheres to the components of the cable to close all possible leakage pathways. However, associated problems include messy application and difficulties with contamination.
Oasis SAF®-based cable yarns and tapes are an alternative technology to the more traditional methods used in the active system to prevent water passage along a cable from a joint or point of sheath damage. They work by absorbing any water that enters the cable, resulting in rapid swelling by the super absorbent content, with the subsequent swollen gel, blocking any further ingress. Water blocking yarns and tapes can be used together to provide the total active system.
They offer a number of advantages over petrogel, including lower investments in manufacturing equipment, more reliable and cleaner cable production, shorter core access time during jointing, no cleaning chemical needed and less environmental impact.