Conductive textiles and polymer-ceramic composites for novel load bearing antennas

Abstract

We presented carbon nanotube coated conductive textiles and polymer-ceramic composites for novel load bearing antennas. We showed that the polymer-ceramic composite exhibits high permittivity with very low loss tangent depending on the ceramic-polymer mix ratio. We also discussed that conductive textile coated with carbon nanotubes and gold carry very promising features to achieve high conductivity and mechanical flexibility, which are critical for load bearing antennas. The strong adhesion between the conductive textile and the polymer-ceramic surface created a flexible, conformal, light-weight antenna. We specifically designed a patch antenna using a simple polymer-ceramic and textile mixing process. Quantitative RF and mechanical performance of the antenna will be presented at the conference.