Materials Design for Charge-Programmed Additive Manufacturing of Antennas

Antennas fabricated with traditional manufacturing methods typically carry redundant weight and are limited in 3D architecture complexity. Current additive manufacturing (AM) methods also lacks the capability to construct antennas with multiple materials. The charge-programmed multi-material AM process demonstrated in this work allows the design and manufacturing of antennas with previously unattainable mechanical properties. In this paper, we discuss the principles behind the multi-material printing and the versatility of the selective metal deposition process. We also introduce the material designs that enables the variation of material property, which makes it possible to print both stiff and flexible antennas.