A Comparative Analysis of 3D Printed Substrate and Laminate-Based Rectangular Patch Antennas at C-Band

This paper presents a comparative study between 3D printed and laminate-based rectangular patch antennas, specifically designed to operate at 4.7 GHz. A total of five patch antennas, fabricated using additive manufacturing (AM) techniques and several materials as substrates (Nanoe Zetamix Epsilon filaments, PETG and PLA), are compared against four antenna prototypes made in well known laminate substrates (FR4, Rogers RT/duroid 5880, RO4350B, and RT/duroid 6010LM). For the 3D printed antenna prototypes, different metallisation techniques, including copper foil, silver spray, and silver cloth tape, were employed to enhance the electrical performance of the antennas. The results demonstrate that the 3D printed antennas presented reasonable results when comparing with the laminate ones, although several challenges related to manufacturing inconsistencies and material brittleness for the 3D printed antennas, particularly with the Zetamix filaments.