Installation Manual

BEST PRACTICES

FS061

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Page 9 of 12

The most common form of adapter contamination appears in the form of a “Dust Ring”. See Figure 3

for typical end face examples and Figure 5 below for a visual explanation. The particles inside and

on the walls of an adapter sleeve are pushed to the contacting surface by both ferrules. Once there,

they are collected on the mating end faces of each of the ferrules. When the two ferrules are making

physical contact, sub-micron dust particles are forced onto the contact surface. These particles form

a ring, the circumference of which encircles the center of the physical contact area.

When there is excess moisture or alcohol present, it also forms similarly shaped rings. Clean

adapters do not produce such a ring.

Figure 5 – Typical “Dust Ring” Formation

8.0 General Cleaning Procedures

For components that are suspect of being contaminated, the following cleaning procedures are

recommended. Use the following definitions for each connector/adapter scenario described in the

cleaning procedures section.