3D-Printable-RF-Components

Complex RF electromagnetic devices such as phased arrays have traditionally been very expensive to fabricate due to the difficulty of routing radio frequency (RF) signals, electrical control signals and electrical power. Several additive manufacturing approaches have been developed to produce either conformal array fabrication technologies or complex interconnection technologies but none yet have achieved both with high power handling. Additive manufacturing methods are enticing because complexity is not strongly correlated with cost, rather cost is driven more by material volume (i.e. machine time). Toyon proposes to develop an ElectroMagnetic 3D (EM3D) printing technology based on a gantry motion control platform which can manipulate multiple processing heads based on existing Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D printing technology. FDM can print with flight and space qualified thermoplastic resins such as PEI and PEEK. Toyon will augment the existing FDM process with new extrudable materials which have tuned electromagnetic properties. The proposed approach will use the Laser Direct Structuring (LDS) method for selective metallization of the 3D printed polymers. The EM3D printing process will feature integrated structure, cooling channels, RF and electrical routing. The use of high quality engineering polymers and metal will be able to produce flight qualified functional prototypes.