Abstract
Ceramic materials are chemical- and temperature-resistant and, therefore, enable novel application fields ranging from automotive to aerospace. With this in mind, this contribution focuses on developing an additive manufacturing approach for 3D-printed waveguides made of ceramic materials. In particular, a special design approach for ceramic waveguides, which introduces non-radiating slots into the waveguides sidewalls, and a customized metallization process, are presented. The developed process allows for using conventional stereolithographic desktop-grade 3D-printers. The proposed approach has, therefore, benefits such as low-cost fabrication, moderate handling effort and independence of the concrete waveguide geometry. The performance of a manufactured ceramic WR12 waveguide is compared to a commercial waveguide and a conventionally printed counterpart. For that reason, relevant properties, such as surface roughness and waveguide geometry, are characterized. Parsing the electrical measurements, the ceramic waveguide specimen features an attenuation coefficient of 30–60 dB/m within the E-Band. The measured attenuation coefficient is 200% and 300% higher compared to the epoxy resin and the commercial waveguide and is attributed to the increased surface roughness of the ceramic substrate.
Highlights
In passive systems for higher frequency ranges above 20 GHz, waveguide technology offers several major advantages over printed circuit boards (PCBs) which are limited to a planar structure by their nature
The rheology of the resin, as well as the ceramic filled resin, which is a crucial parameter for the printing process, was measured using a stress-controlled viscometer
The pure resin shows a Newtonian behavior, whereas the ceramic filled resin shows a shear-thinning behavior which is desirable for the printing process
Summary
In passive systems for higher frequency ranges above 20 GHz, waveguide technology offers several major advantages over printed circuit boards (PCBs) which are limited to a planar structure by their nature. While p small cross-section microstrip lines exhibit relatively high conductor loss scaling in a ∝. Conductor surface roughness (Rq ) further increases conductor loss effects while at the same time generating an impact on the phase behavior [2,3,4]. Both loss mechanisms are addressed by hollow waveguides. The larger cross-section allows for a reduction in conductor losses, while the absence of lossy laminate material makes dielectric losses negligible. Passive components suhc as waveguide circuits [5], compact couplers [6], horn antennae [7,8] or slotted waveguide array (SWA) antennae [9,10]
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