IEC TR 63484:2024

IEC TR 63484 ®
Edition 1.0 2024-09
TECHNICAL
REPORT
Guidance on fungus resistance of optical fibre cables

All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from
either IEC or IEC's member National Committee in the country of the requester. If you have any questions about IEC
copyright or have an enquiry about obtaining additional rights to this publication, please contact the address below or
your local IEC member National Committee for further information.

IEC Secretariat Tel.: +41 22 919 02 11
3, rue de Varembé info@iec.ch
CH-1211 Geneva 20 www.iec.ch
Switzerland
About the IEC
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is the leading global organization that prepares and publishes
International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies.

About IEC publications
The technical content of IEC publications is kept under constant review by the IEC. Please make sure that you have the
latest edition, a corrigendum or an amendment might have been published.

IEC publications search - webstore.iec.ch/advsearchform IEC Products & Services Portal - products.iec.ch
The advanced search enables to find IEC publications by a Discover our powerful search engine and read freely all the
variety of criteria (reference number, text, technical publications previews, graphical symbols and the glossary.
committee, …). It also gives information on projects, replaced With a subscription you will always have access to up to date
and withdrawn publications. content tailored to your needs.

IEC Just Published - webstore.iec.ch/justpublished
Electropedia - www.electropedia.org
Stay up to date on all new IEC publications. Just Published
The world's leading online dictionary on electrotechnology,
details all new publications released. Available online and once
containing more than 22 500 terminological entries in English
a month by email.
and French, with equivalent terms in 25 additional languages.

Also known as the International Electrotechnical Vocabulary
IEC Customer Service Centre - webstore.iec.ch/csc
(IEV) online.
If you wish to give us your feedback on this publication or need

further assistance, please contact the Customer Service
Centre: sales@iec.ch.
IEC TR 63484 ®
Edition 1.0 2024-09
TECHNICAL
REPORT
Guidance on fungus resistance of optical fibre cables

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 33.180.10  ISBN 978-2-8322-9719-3

– 2 – IEC TR 63484:2024 © IEC 2024
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 4
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 Terms and definitions . 6
4 Mechanisms of fungal infection and growth. 6
4.1 Mechanisms of fungal infection . 6
4.2 Environmental conditions for fungal growth . 7
5 Effects of fungal growth on optical cable . 7
5.1 General . 7
5.2 Main effects on optical cable . 8
6 Prevention of fungal growth . 8
6.1 General . 8
6.2 Cable sheath . 8
6.2.1 Physical methods . 8
6.2.2 Chemical methods . 8
6.3 Cable internal components . 9
6.4 Cable drum . 9
7 Sheath material selection and cable design principles . 9
7.1 Common sheath material . 9
7.2 Cable design principles . 11
8 Fungus resistance test method . 11
8.1 General consideration . 11
8.2 Objective . 11
8.3 Sample . 12
8.3.1 General . 12
8.3.2 Fibre samples . 12
8.3.3 Cable samples . 12
8.3.4 Material samples . 12
8.3.5 Biocide/Fungicide efficacy samples . 12
8.4 Apparatus . 12
8.5 Procedure . 13
8.5.1 General . 13
8.5.2 Conditioning . 13
8.5.3 Test fungi . 13
8.6 Assessment . 13
8.6.1 Visual inspection . 13
8.6.2 Evaluation of other properties . 13
8.7 Requirements . 14
8.8 Details to be specified . 14
Bibliography . 15

Figure 1 – Fungal growth on optical cable with PVC sheath . 10
Figure 2 – Fungal growth on optical cable with LSZH sheath . 10
Figure 3 – Fungal growth on optical cable with TPU sheath . 11

Table 1 – Test fungi . 13
Table 2 – Suggested test items (other than visual inspection) after exposure . 14

– 4 – IEC TR 63484:2024 © IEC 2024
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
GUIDANCE ON FUNGUS RESISTANCE OF OPTICAL FIBRE CABLES

FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote international
co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To this end and
in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications, Technical Reports,
Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC Publication(s)”). Their
preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested in the subject dealt with
may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-governmental organizations liaising
with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely with the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all
interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC
Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence between
any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in the latter.
5) IEC itself does not provide any attestation of conformity. Independent certification bodies provide conformity
assessment services and, in some areas, access to IEC marks of conformity. IEC is not responsible for any
services carried out by independent certification bodies.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
7) No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and
members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for any personal injury, property damage or
other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and
expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC
Publications.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) IEC draws attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the use of (a)
patent(s). IEC takes no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability of any claimed patent rights in
respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document, IEC had not received notice of (a) patent(s), which
may be required to implement this document. However, implementers are cautioned that this may not represent
the latest information, which may be obtained from the patent database available at https://patents.iec.ch. IEC
shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
IEC TR 63484 has been prepared by subcommittee 86A: Fibres and cables, of IEC technical
committee 86: Fibre optics. It is a Technical Report.
The text of this Technical Report is based on the following documents:
Draft Report on voting
86A/2485/DTR 86A/2489/RVDTR
Full information on the voting for its approval can be found in the report on voting indicated in
the above table.
The language used for the development of this Technical Report is English.

This document was drafted in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, and developed in
accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 and ISO/IEC Directives, IEC Supplement, available
at www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs. The main document types developed by IEC are
described in greater detail at www.iec.ch/publications.
The committee has decided that the contents of this document will remain unchanged until the
stability date indicated on the IEC website under webstore.iec.ch in the data related to the
specific document. At this date, the document will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn, or
• revised.
IMPORTANT – The "colour inside" logo on the cover page of this document indicates
that it contains colours which are considered to be useful for the correct understanding
of its contents. Users should therefore print this document using a colour printer.

– 6 – IEC TR 63484:2024 © IEC 2024
GUIDANCE ON FUNGUS RESISTANCE OF OPTICAL FIBRE CABLES

1 Scope
This document provides information about fungal growth on the outer sheath of optical fibre
cables and on the inner components of the cable. It also provides guidance for specifying fungus
resistance performance of optical cable outer sheath and internal cable components, including
recommendations for fungus resistance test method as well as evaluation after test.
This document applies to optical fibre cables for use with telecommunication equipment and
devices employing similar techniques, and to hybrid telecommunication cables having a
combination of both optical fibres and electrical conductors.
Since conditions suitable f
...