Analysis of Dispense and Water Transfer Printing as Fabrication Methods for UHF Antennas on 3D Printed Substrates

Additive manufacturing of antennas on three-dimensional (3D) surfaces can reduce material wastage by depositing material only where required on the substrate. Here we show for the first time ultra high frequency (UHF) dipole antennas on 3D printed polylactic acid (PLA) substrate printed using dispense and water transfer techniques. Antenna measurements yield return losses (S 11 ) of -20 dB and -17 dB, achieved respectively for dispense printed and water transferred samples, which are in good agreement with simulation results.