STTR Phase I: Additive Manufacturing of Radio Frequency and Microwave Components from a Highly Conductive 3D Printing Filament

STTR 第一阶段：使用高导电 3D 打印丝材增材制造射频和微波组件

• 批准号: 1721644
• 负责人: Shengrong Ye
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: Multi3D LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-07-01 至 2018-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1721644&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: STTR; Phase; Additive; Manufacturing; Radio

This STTR Phase I project will enable the rapid prototyping and manufacturing of radio frequency (RF) components with 3D printing, and thereby reduce component cost, weight, and turnaround time. The global RF components market is expected to reach $17.54 billion by 2022, but fabrication techniques for commercial RF components have seen little innovation. Conventional RF manufacturing techniques, such machining and photolithography, are accurate and reliable, but they are also expensive, time-consuming and produce unnecessary waste. 3D printing enables fast and accurate manufacturing of custom components, as well as the creation of extremely complex geometries at low-cost for improved component performance. 3D printing can also enable users to design components to fit the design space available, removing the necessity of designing technology around commercially available parts, a critical feature in space and weight-sensitive aerospace applications. However, the materials available to 3D printing are mostly limited to non-conducting polymers. By creating a highly conductive 3D printing material, and testing the properties of RF components made with this filament, this project will make it possible to rapidly prototype and produce custom RF components, thereby accelerating research and improving the competitiveness of RF component manufacturing in the U.S.This STTR proposal will create a highly conductive (2×10^5 S m-1) polymer filament that can be used with low-cost fused deposition modeling 3D printers to create a variety of high-value RF components. The filament will be engineered to print reliably, and retain its conductivity and mechanical integrity to temperatures of ~150 °C. To achieve these goals, the proposed work will determine the relationship between conductivity, the loading of conductive filler, the shape of the conductive filler, the filament mechanical properties, and the viscosity of the filament at printing temperatures. New methods will be developed to prevent oxidation of the conductive filler at elevated temperatures. A novel conductive filler will be developed to achieve these performance specifications at low cost. Concurrent with these material development efforts, novel RF components will be designed, simulated, and printed in order to build a comprehensive database with detailed designs and printing parameters for producing the RF components with a low failure rate. By the end of this project, users will be able to design, predict, and reliably print RF components with conductive filament on low-cost 3D printers.

STTRI期项目将实现3D打印射频(RF)组件的快速成型和制造，从而降低组件成本、重量和周转时间。到2022年，全球射频组件市场预计将达到175.4亿美元，但商业射频组件的制造技术几乎没有创新。传统的射频制造技术，如机械加工和光刻技术，是准确和可靠的，但它们也昂贵、耗时并产生不必要的浪费。3D打印能够快速、准确地制造定制组件，以及以低成本创建极其复杂的几何图形，从而提高组件性能。3D打印还可以让用户设计适合现有设计空间的部件，消除了围绕商业部件设计技术的必要性，这是空间和对重量敏感的航空航天应用的关键功能。然而，可用于3D打印的材料大多限于非导电聚合物。通过创造一种高导电性的3D打印材料，并测试用该长丝制成的射频组件的性能，该项目将使快速制作定制的射频组件原型成为可能，从而加快研究并提高美国射频组件制造的竞争力。该STTR计划将创造一种高导电性(2×10^5 S m-1)的聚合物长丝，可以与低成本的熔融沉积成型3D打印机一起使用，以制造各种高价值的射频组件。长丝将被设计成可靠地打印，并在~150°C的温度下保持其导电性和机械完整性。为了实现这些目标，拟议的工作将确定导电性、导电填料的负载、导电填料的形状、长丝的机械性能和长丝在打印温度下的粘度之间的关系。将开发新的方法来防止导电填料在高温下氧化。为了以较低的成本达到这些性能指标，将开发一种新型的导电填料。在这些材料开发工作的同时，将设计、模拟和打印新的射频组件，以便建立一个全面的数据库，其中包含详细的设计和打印参数，用于生产低故障率的射频组件。到本项目结束时，用户将能够在低成本的3D打印机上设计、预测和可靠地打印具有导电丝的射频组件。

项目成果

3D printing electronic components and circuits with conductive thermoplastic filament

• DOI: 10.1016/j.addma.2017.10.002
• 发表时间: 2017-12-01
• 期刊: ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
• 影响因子: 11
• 作者: Flowers, Patrick F.;Reyes, Christopher;Wiley, Benjamin J.
• 通讯作者: Wiley, Benjamin J.

Computational microwave imaging using 3D printed conductive polymer frequency-diverse metasurface antennas

• DOI: 10.1049/iet-map.2017.0104
• 发表时间: 2017-04
• 期刊: Iet Microwaves Antennas & Propagation
• 影响因子: 1.7
• 作者: O. Yurduseven;P. Flowers;Shengrong Ye;D. Marks;J. Gollub;T. Fromenteze;B. Wiley;David R. Smith

Microwave metamaterials made by fused deposition 3D printing of a highly conductive copper-based filament

• DOI: 10.1063/1.4982718
• 发表时间: 2017-05
• 期刊: Applied Physics Letters
• 影响因子: 4
• 作者: Yangbo Xie;Shengrong Ye;Christopher Reyes;P. Sithikong;B. Popa;B. Wiley;S. Cummer

Integrated Flexible Conversion Circuit between a Flexible Photovoltaic and Supercapacitors for Powering Wearable Sensors

• DOI: 10.1149/2.0141808jes
• 发表时间: 2018-04
• 期刊: Journal of The Electrochemical Society
• 影响因子: 3.9
• 作者: James O. Thostenson;Zhongxi Li;C. H. Kim;A. Ajnsztajn;C. Parker;Jie Liu;A. Peterchev;J. Glass;S. Goetz