Three-Dimensional Printed mm-Wave Monolithic Waveguide Twists: End-to-End Manufacturing and Surface-Treatment Solutions

IF 4.5 1区工程技术 Q2 ENGINEERING, ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC

IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques Pub Date : 2025-06-19 DOI:10.1109/TMTT.2025.3577733

Lu Qian;Talal Skaik;Yi-Wen Wu;Yi Wang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

This article presents an end-to-end manufacturing and post-processing solution for 3-D-printed millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) monolithic waveguide (WG) components. A high-precision micro laser sintering (MLS) process, two internal surface polishing methods—abrasive flow machining (AFM) and Hirtisation—and an electroless gold plating process are combined to address the surface quality challenges commonly associated with current 3-D-printed mm-Wave components. This is the first demonstration of the two polishing techniques on mm-Wave devices. An experimental study was conducted on two mm-Wave WG twists for WR-15 and WR-5 bands, respectively. The impact of the surface treatment processes on both mechanical and electrical properties was investigated. The surface roughness of both WG twists was reduced to below

$1~\mu $

m. For the WR-15 WG twist, the dissipative attenuation factor ranged from 5.4 to 2.7 dB/m, with a worst case return loss of 30 dB. For the WR-05 WG twist, the dissipative attenuation factor ranged from 17 to 10 dB/m, with a worst case return loss of 14 dB. The significant improvement in insertion losses (ILs) demonstrates the effectiveness of the two surface treatment methods, enabling complex monolithic mm-Wave WG components with enhanced surface quality.

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三维印刷毫米波单片波导扭曲：端到端制造和表面处理解决方案

本文介绍了3d打印毫米波（mm-Wave）单片波导（WG）组件的端到端制造和后处理解决方案。高精度微激光烧结（MLS）工艺，两种内部表面抛光方法-磨料流加工（AFM）和hirtisa -和化学镀金工艺相结合，以解决当前3d打印毫米波组件通常相关的表面质量挑战。这是两种抛光技术在毫米波器件上的首次演示。对WR-15和WR-5波段的两种毫米波扭态进行了实验研究。研究了表面处理工艺对材料力学性能和电性能的影响。WR-15型扭扭的耗散衰减系数在5.4 ~ 2.7 dB/m之间，最坏情况下回波损耗为30 dB。对于WR-05型扭扭，耗散衰减系数范围为17至10 dB/m，最坏情况下回波损耗为14 dB。插入损耗（ILs）的显著改善证明了两种表面处理方法的有效性，使复杂的单片毫米波WG组件具有更高的表面质量。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques 工程技术-工程：电子与电气

CiteScore

8.60

自引率

18.60%

发文量

486

审稿时长

6 months

期刊介绍： The IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques focuses on that part of engineering and theory associated with microwave/millimeter-wave components, devices, circuits, and systems involving the generation, modulation, demodulation, control, transmission, and detection of microwave signals. This includes scientific, technical, and industrial, activities. Microwave theory and techniques relates to electromagnetic waves usually in the frequency region between a few MHz and a THz; other spectral regions and wave types are included within the scope of the Society whenever basic microwave theory and techniques can yield useful results. Generally, this occurs in the theory of wave propagation in structures with dimensions comparable to a wavelength, and in the related techniques for analysis and design.