Additive Manufacture of Nanocomposite Magneto-dielectric Conformal Antennas

To improve performance, reduce size, and minimize the radiation cross section (RCS) of conformal antennas, conformal antennas miniaturized using custom-engineered dielectric and magneto-dielectric nanocomposite materials and multi-materials additive manufacturing (AM) will be demonstrated. Engineering the effective properties of nanocomposite materials by specific concentrations and arrangement of constituent dielectric and magnetic nanoparticles provides additional degrees of design freedom for achieving desired antenna functionalities compared to those designed with homogeneous materials. Using multi-materials 3D additive manufacturing, it is further possible to enhance antenna performance by architecting mixed-material substrates, which are made up of specifically patterned nanocomposite regions, each composed of a material selected for material properties with respect to the electrical and magnetic field characteristics in that region.   In the Phase II program, repeatable methods of printing nanocomposites with variable 0% to 50% (volume) nanofiller loading compositions will be demonstrated. Using a spiral development methodology, as materials are optimized, antenna designs will be optimized, fabricated, and tested. After demonstrating that the measured performance of planar antenna arrays matches the specified design intent, conformal antenna arrays will be developed, and preliminary environmental and reliability testing will be performed.