Selective Laser Sintering Manufacturing as a Low Cost Alternative for Flat-Panel Antennas in Millimeter-Wave Bands

Miguel Ferrando-Rocher,Jose Ignacio Herranz-Herruzo,Bernardo Bernardo-Clemente,Alejandro Valero-Nogueira

doi:10.1109/access.2021.3067637

Abstract

In this paper, the capabilities of Selective Laser Sintering metal 3D-Printing technology to achieve a lightweight and cost-effective flat panel antenna in the millimeter wave band are studied. Specifically, two identical dual-band 4×4 array antennas working in the K and Ka bands have been manufactured; one with Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) and one using computer numerical control (CNC). Measured performance of the SLS antenna prototype is benchmarked with the performance of the previously measured CNC antenna. Experimental results reveal the strengths and weaknesses of this particular low-cost additive manufacturing technique with respect to traditional subtractive manufacturing techniques.

Highlights

Additive manufacturing (AM) provided by different three-dimensional (3D) printing systems increases the degrees of freedom in device design, enabling complex 3D structures built from a variety of materials
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS The study presented here assesses the viability of Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) manufacturing by comparing the electrical performance of two identical antennas constructed with different techniques
A mechanized and already validated prototype will be used as a reference framework to analyze the capabilities and limitations of SLS manufacture

Summary

Introduction

Additive manufacturing (AM) provided by different three-dimensional (3D) printing systems increases the degrees of freedom in device design, enabling complex 3D structures built from a variety of materials. Realizations of several millimeter-wave band antennas and components using 3D printing and subsequent metal plating have been recently reported in the literature, for example, horn arrays [2], [3], slot arrays [4], [5] or waveguide antenna arrays [6]–[8]. A very complete review of the state of the art of 3D antennas can be found in [9]. From this recent contribution, it is observed that very few millimeter-wave arrays have been fabricated using metallic additive manufacturing.

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion