Investigating the Effects of Mechanical Strain on the Performance of Stretchable Microstrip Slot Antenna at mmWave

Advancements in flexible and stretchable electronics hold immense potential for applications such as on body wearable electronic. Recent developments in the field of flexible and stretchable antennas have highlighted the critical importance of carefully designing the materials and structures to maintain stable microwave performance under mechanical deformations and strains. This research paper aims to investigate the effects of applying mechanical strain on the performance characteristics of a stretchable microstrip slot antenna at millimetre-wave (mmWave) frequency, including its resonant frequency, radiation pattern, and directivity. The stretchable material used in this work was a composite of Polysiloxane-Silver ink as the conductor, with PDMS serving as the substrate. The proposed antenna has a reflection coefficient of -23.72 dB with a -10 dB bandwidth of 7.9 GHz. Upon applying 5%, 10% and 20% strain, the resonant frequency is shifted to lower frequency at 23.81 GHz, 23.6 GHz and 23.2 GHz respectively, but the -10 dB bandwidth maintained around 7.8 GHz. These results show that the antenna’s reflection coefficient performance was affected when it was stretched.