Antenna Design Using Modern Additive Manufacturing Technology: A Review

Abstract

printing technology is an area of research that has received great attention in the last decade and it is pointed out by many as the future of manufacturing. 3D printing can be described as an additive process that creates a physical object from a digital model, depositing materials layer by layer. The ability to quickly produce complex structures at a reduced cost and without wasting materials is the main reason why this additive manufacturing technique is increasingly being used instead of conventional manufacturing processes. 3D printing has been applied in several scenarios, including automotive, maritime and construction industry, healthcare, as well as in the antenna research field. This paper reviews the current state-of-the-art of 3D printed antennas. Firstly, an overview of 3D printing technology is presented and then a vast number of 3D printed antennas, categorized by their construction process, are described. Finally, the main advantages and some of the limitations of using 3D printing technology in the construction of Radio Frequency (RF) structures are presented.

Analysis of FDM and DLP 3D-Printing Technologies to Prototype Electromagnetic Devices for RFID Applications

“…A not exhaustive list could contain Massoni et al [ 17 ], where the authors have used the possibility to tune the infill of a model printed by FDM technology to realize a Substrate Integrated Slab Waveguide obtaining an enhanced bandwidth; Moscato et al [ 18 ], where the same principle and the use of a special elastic material called Ninjaflex have been used to produce an unconventional antenna; Rocco et al [ 19 ], in which the authors have described how they successfully manufactured a 3D-printed microfluidic sensor by exploiting a substrate integrated waveguide cavity; Martínez Odiaga et al [ 20 ], where a particularly lightweight circular horn antenna for police radar application has been printed with FDM; Alkaraki et al [ 21 ], in which authors reported the realization of a particular 3D-printed slot antenna operating in the Ka band. Eventually, in Helena et al [ 22 ], a very accurate review on different AM technology (FDM among the others) applied in the prototyping of antennas, is proposed.…”

Electromagnetic characterisation of conductive 3D‐Printable filaments for designing fully 3D‐Printed antennas

“…For these reasons, in the open literature, 3D printing based on material extrusion is mainly employed to build only the dielectric structure of the antenna, falling back on alternative solutions to provide the metallisation [4–27]. Many types of antennas operating at very different frequencies and many techniques to realize the conductive parts have been adopted in these works.…”

3D Printing Materials and Techniques for Antennas and Metamaterials: A survey of the latest advances

“…The filaments are designed for their physical properties rather than their EM properties. ABS has a relative permittivity, , r f of ~2.69 and a loss tangent, , tan d of ~0.012, while PLA has an r f of ~2.7 and a tan d of ~0.008 measured at 1 MHz [1]. The dielectric properties were measured with a range of techniques over the frequency range of 2-60 GHz: ABS had an r f of ~2.45 and a tan d of ~0.005, and PLA had an r f of ~2.55 and a tan d of ~0.009 [2].…”