Development of 15-dB Gain Conical Horn Antenna Using 3D Printing Technology

In this research, we manufactured a commercially available standard-gain conical horn antenna by using a three-dimensional (3D) printer. Such antennas are expensive, and they take very long to deliver; therefore, it is desirable to fabricate antennas using the 3D printing technique. Hence, we designed the WR-15 conical horn antenna using SolidWorks. To fabricate this antenna, we used a 3D printer with polylactic acid material. The inner surface of the antenna was made conductive by coating it with copper and spray painting it with silver. We investigated the performance of the horn antennas. The scattering parameters of the fabricated antenna painted in silver were compared with the theoretical scattering results and the scattering parameters taken from commercially available antennas.

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