Electromagnetic Evaluation of Conductive and Dielectric Thermoplastic Materials Suitable for Designing Fully-3D-Printable RF Devices

Abstract

New possibilities in antenna and microwave manufacturing are opening up through the exploitation of additive manufacturing (AM) 3D printing techniques. Despite being used primarily for the fabrication of dielectric structures, with the right filament, these procedures could also be able to print conductive parts, giving birth to true fully-3D-printed radiating elements. However, to take full advantage of these thermoplastic materials, a rigorous electromagnetic characterization needs to be performed. Based on this, the dielectric properties of one of the most common plastic 3D-printable materials are investigated, and, in addition, the electric conductivity of one of the most promising conductive filaments (Electrifi) is experimentally evaluated in a wide frequency range (0.5-7.5 GHz) and then validated in the design of different fully-3D-printable patch antennas.