Polymeric cladding materials under high temperature from optical fibre perspective: a review

Polymeric materials have become useful in advancing technology due to their distinct properties. One of the useful applications of polymeric materials is in optical conditions such as fibre core, cladding and jacketing of optical fibre. However, polymers suffer from poor thermal properties, which limit their applications in high-temperature environments. Polymers show different properties at various temperatures with respect to time or duration of exposure. In most cases, they show high deterioration of properties at elevated temperature. This often limits the use of polymer in optical application at some certain elevated temperature. Notwithstanding, there has been an advancement on improving thermal stability of polymers as optical fibre materials. Therefore, discussion in this review focused on polymers as cladding and coating materials for high-temperature applications. This review summarized polymeric cladding materials, behaviours and properties of polymeric cladding materials under high temperature. It was concluded with advancements, challenges and recommendations for high-temperature polymeric cladding materials. It is believed that this review will give insight into advancement and selection of high-temperature polymeric materials for cladding, jacketing and coating applications. It will also give a platform for further research.