Investigation of 3D Additive Manufacturing toward Arbitrary Electromagnetic Structures

任意电磁结构的 3D 增材制造研究

• 批准号: 1408271
• 负责人: Hao Xin
• 金额: $ 36万
• 依托单位: University of Arizona
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-08-01 至 2017-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1408271&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Investigation; 3D; Additive; Manufacturing; toward

This proposal seeks to develop novel 3D printing (also called additive manufacturing) technology for a broad range of microwave frequency applications including wireless communication, remote sensing, high speed computing, etc. Although it has been argued that 3D printing could be the future of manufacturing, the potential and applicability of these methods for creating functional electronics, especially those operate at RF / microwave frequency which are critical components for many applications remain largely unexplored. A number of limitations need to be resolved before advanced microwave components and systems can be printed in a 3D fashion robustly. Among them, the lack of printable materials with desired microwave properties and the challenges in integrating high quality conducting constituents are some of the main issues. This proposed research will explore several novel ideas to address these outstanding issues of additive manufacturing for microwave applications. The proposed work will contribute timely to the additive manufacturing field and enable 3D printing of fully functional microwave components and systems. This research will also have significant broader impacts to the advancement of science, engineering and human society. The research results will contribute to novel aspects of next generation of manufacturing technology and advance the state-of-the-art of 3D printed microwave electronics. The expected outcome may enable fully customizable, high value, multi-functional products for the consumer, biomedical, aerospace and defense industries. A concurrent and integrated research education plan including active participation of both graduate and undergraduate student researchers will also be carried out. Engineering curriculum will be enhanced not only at the two participating universities but also for the bigger community through a new course and new textbook on Additive Manufacturing Technology (to be offered online as well as in classrooms), open research seminars, and undergraduate senior Capstone projects. The proposed education program will provide a broader education scope in the society by holding regular classroom / industrial seminars and attending technical conferences. Moreover, outreach to underrepresented groups will be emphasized specifically targeting women and minorities at both universities and at local K-12 schools. It is expected that the proposed education component will provide timely training of work force in advanced manufacturing which is of great national importance.The objective of the proposed research is to advance additive manufacturing technology to enable 3D printing of microwave components and systems. Most of the materials used in 3D printing technology currently are designed or selected with only mechanical property in mind, thus limiting their applicability to microwave applications. While conductive ink printing has been widely applied, the high temperature annealing process required is often not compatible to the non-conducting part of the objects to be manufactured. In this program, 3D printable materials with robust electromagnetic properties will be investigated and developed based on a novel polymer matrix compound technique to obtain improved EM properties such as larger range of dielectric constant and magnetic response. 3D printing technique for additive manufacturing of high quality (i.e., good RF conductivity) conductors by ultrasonic or thermal embedding and laser welding metallic wires and fine-pitch meshes within materials such as thermoplastics will be developed and refined. Based upon these new techniques, practical microwave components (i.e., transmission line with vertical interconnects, wire and patch antennas, etc.) will be designed, printed and tested. In addition, novel 3D gradient index (GRIN) metamaterial-based device (i.e., a flattened Luneburg lens imager) with superior performance will be investigated.

该提案旨在为广泛的微波频率应用开发新颖的3D打印（也称为增材制造）技术，包括无线通信，遥感，高速计算等。有人争辩说，3D打印可能是制造的未来，是制造的未来，这些方法的潜在和适用性仍然是这些功能性电子设备，尤其是在RF / Microwave频率下运行的这些方法，这些方法是许多关键的配置组合，而这些产品范围是许多关键的组合。在高级微波组件和系统可以以3D方式打印出高级微波组件和系统之前，需要解决许多限制。其中，缺乏所需微波特性的可打印材料以及整合高质量指挥成分的挑战是一些主要问题。这项拟议的研究将探索几个新颖的想法，以解决微波应用程序的添加剂制造的这些杰出问题。拟议的工作将及时为增材制造领域做出贡献，并启用功能齐全的微波组件和系统的3D打印。这项研究还将对科学，工程和人类社会的进步产生更广泛的影响。研究结果将有助于下一代制造技术的新方面，并推进3D印刷微波电子产品的最新技术。预期的结果可能可以为消费者，生物医学，航空航天和国防行业提供完全可定制的，高价值的多功能产品。还将执行一项并发和综合的研究教育计划，包括研究生和本科生研究人员的积极参与。工程课程不仅将在两所参与大学的大学中得到增强，而且还将通过新的课程和有关增材制造技术的新教科书（将在网上以及课堂上提供），开放研究研讨会和本科高级高级盖石材项目。拟议的教育计划将通过定期举办课堂 /工业研讨会和参加技术会议来为社会提供更广泛的教育范围。此外，将强调与代表性不足的团体的宣传专门针对大学和本地K-12学校的妇女和少数民族。预计拟议的教育组成部分将及时对高级制造业的劳动力进行培训，这非常重要。拟议的研究的目的是提高增材制造技术以启用3D印刷微波炉组件和系统。 3D打印技术中使用的大多数材料都是在设计或仅选择机械属性的，因此将其适用性限制在微波应用程序中。尽管已广泛应用导电墨水打印，但所需的高温退火过程通常与要制造的物体的非导电部分不兼容。在该程序中，将根据一种新型的聚合物基质化合物技术进行研究和开发具有可靠电磁特性的3D可打印材料，以获得改进的EM特性，例如较大的介电常数范围和磁反应。 3D打印技术将开发和精炼，用于超声或热嵌入的高质量（即良好的RF电导率）导体以及激光焊接金属线和诸如热塑性材料（例如热塑性）内的细节的激光焊接。基于这些新技术，将设计，打印和测试实用的微波组件（即带有垂直互连，电线和贴片天线等的传输线）。此外，将研究具有出色性能的新型3D梯度指数（Grin）基于超材料的设备（即具有较平坦的Luneburg镜头成像仪）。