It is a general assumption that water itself, rather than impurities of water solutions, is dangerous for standard optical fibers. In this review paper, a summary of the results on water test conditions, made by COST 246 Action, is given, and the factors affecting the test results of strength and fatigue tests, are discussed. A fiber may have very different strength degradation in water depending on the chemical conditions, such as, ion concentration of the water, test vessel material, temperature etc.
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