| abstract |
Provided is an improved optical fiber ribbon unit made of a plurality of coated optical glass fibers each further coated with a cured colored composition, and a matrix material which binds the plurality of colored optical fibers together. The bonding force between the cured colored composition and the coated optical fibers is greater than the bonding force between said cured colored composition and said matrix material, and the matrix material is selected or formulated to provide a modulus and Tg sufficiently high such that, when opposing pressure is applied to the ribbon unit using the fingers of a human hand, the matrix material buckles and separates from said colored coated optical fibers instead of compressing and absorbing the opposing pressure. Also provided are a method of making the ribbon unit, and a method of achieving mid-span access to individual optical fibers contained within the ribbon unit. |