Investigation of 3D Additive Manufacturing toward Arbitrary Electromagnetic Structures

该提案旨在开发新型3D打印技术（也称为增材制造）技术用于广泛的微波频率应用，包括无线通信，遥感，高速计算等。尽管有人认为3D打印可能是制造业的未来，但这些方法用于创建功能电子产品的潜力和适用性，特别是那些在RF /微波频率下工作的器件，它们对于许多应用来说是关键的部件，但仍然没有得到很大的开发。在以3D方式稳健地打印先进的微波组件和系统之前，需要解决许多限制。其中，缺乏具有所需微波特性的可印刷材料以及集成高质量导电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的想法，以解决微波应用增材制造的这些突出问题。拟议的工作将及时为增材制造领域做出贡献，并实现全功能微波组件和系统的3D打印。这项研究也将对科学、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，并推动3D打印微波电子技术的发展。预期的结果可能会为消费者、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、多功能的产品。同时，还将实施包括研究生和本科生研究人员积极参与的综合研究教育计划。工程课程不仅将在两所参与大学得到加强，而且还将通过增材制造技术的新课程和新教科书（将在网上和课堂上提供），开放式研究研讨会和本科生高级顶点项目为更大的社区提供服务。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，在社会上提供更广泛的教育范围。此外，还将在大学和当地K-12学校强调对代表性不足群体的外联，特别是针对妇女和少数群体。预计拟议的教育部分将及时提供先进制造业的劳动力培训，这对国家具有重要意义。拟议研究的目标是推进增材制造技术，以实现微波元件和系统的3D打印。目前，3D打印技术中使用的大多数材料都是在设计或选择时只考虑机械性能，因此限制了它们在微波应用中的适用性。虽然导电油墨印刷已被广泛应用，但所需的高温退火工艺通常与待制造物体的非导电部分不兼容。在该计划中，将基于新型聚合物基质化合物技术研究和开发具有强大电磁特性的3D打印材料，以获得更大范围的介电常数和磁响应等改善的电磁特性。用于高质量增材制造的3D打印技术（即，通过超声波或热嵌入和激光焊接金属线和细间距网格在材料如热塑性塑料内的方法制造（例如，良好的RF传导性）导体将得到开发和改进。基于这些新技术，实用的微波元件（即，具有垂直互连的传输线、导线和贴片天线等）将被设计、印刷和测试。此外，新颖的基于3D梯度折射率（GRIN）超材料的器件（即，将研究具有上级性能的扁平Luneburg透镜成像器）。

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.