[TowerTalk] A near iminent TX-455 failure

[Don Bozarth]

Hydrogen does strange things in strange places.  While not "hydrogen
embrittlement", we have a similar case in the world of fiber optics....
"molecular hydrogen intrusion".  If a fiber cable is routed through
steel/iron ductwork, and is in a wet (read corrosive) environment the
ductwork will rust.  Rust has a byproduct... hydrogen.  Now hydrogen will
penetrate just about anything you like... in this case a cable sheath... the
cladding... and into the fiber itself.  Hydrogen has an absorbtion line that
falls in the optical "L" band... used by optical transport systems.  It can
be easily demonstrated in real fiber plant that you can have a fiber that is
fine for "C" band, but is actually opaque in the "L" band due to molecular
hydrogen intrusion.

I suspect that embrittlement must have a similar model, though I certainly
can't address that one.

Don B.
W6DRB