Microwave dielectric characterisation of 3D-printed BaTiO3/ABS polymer composites

Abstract

3D printing is used extensively in product prototyping and continues to emerge as a viable option for the direct manufacture of final parts. It is known that dielectric materials with relatively high real permittivity—which are required in important technology sectors such as electronics and communications—may be 3D printed using a variety of techniques. Among these, the fused deposition of polymer composites is particularly straightforward but the range of dielectric permittivities available through commercial feedstock materials is limited. Here we report on the fabrication of a series of composites composed of various loadings of BaTiO3 microparticles in the polymer acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), which may be used with a commercial desktop 3D printer to produce printed parts containing user-defined regions with high permittivity. The microwave dielectric properties of printed parts with BaTiO3 loadings up to 70 wt% were characterised using a 15 GHz split post dielectric resonator and had real relative permittivities in the range 2.6–8.7 and loss tangents in the range 0.005–0.027. Permittivities were reproducible over the entire process, and matched those of bulk unprinted materials, to within ~1%, suggesting that the technique may be employed as a viable manufacturing process for dielectric composites.

Recent developments in 3D printable composite materials

“…The developed composite material was used for applications in soft robotics. 92 There has also been efforts to develop 3D printable dielectric composite materials [93][94][95] . Kurimoto et al (2015) prepared insulating material by adding alumina to a photoresin for a stereolithographic (SLA) 3D printer, in which the layers of the liquid composite (consisting of filler) are cured via a ultraviolet laser, until the entire structure is fabricated.…”

“…94 Similarly, fabrication of dielectric composite materials with relative real permitivities have been achieved by incorporation of BaTiO 3 into ABS material for use with FDM printers. 95 Isakov et al (2015) employed a multi extruder FDM based printer to create anisotropic dielectric composites. Two extruders of the printer were loaded with ABS material as the low dielectric permittivity phase and a mixed inorganic ceramic-polymer powder composite material as the high dielectric phase within the final extruder.…”

Analysis of triple-band binary metamaterial absorber based on low-permittivity all-dielectric resonance surface

“…33,34 Due to the good toughness and low melting temperature, thus, the low-permittivity ADRS usually can be prepared rapidly via machining and 3D print technology. 35,36 As more importantly, compared with the descriptions of high-permittivity ADRS in literatures, the resonance characteristics of current design primarily depend on structural designs of ADRS rather than material characters or particle scales. [28][29][30][31][32] Based on the current route, the triple-band BMA using low-permittivity ADRS is proposed, whose ADRS can be viewed as double layers with twelve-side holes array (Layer 1) and quadrilateral holes array (Layer 2), respectively.…”

Optimized microwave illusion device

“…Techniques such as 3D-printing allows to realize components with intricate complexities, enabling the production of optimal microwave materials and devices with improved performances 41, 46–49 .…”