Deformable Bowtie Antenna Realized by 4D Printing

Abstract

4D printing is utilized to fabricate of thermo-deformable bow-tie antenna to fulfill some special applications with limited space or changing antenna property. In this paper, 4D printing is used to manufacture nylon and carbon fiber laminated composite material. The bow-tie antenna is installed on the surface of the composite material, and the carbon fiber is energized and heated, which causes thermal deformation of the substrate to reconfigure the antenna feature. The deformation mechanism of the composite material is explained, the characteristics of the thermally deformed bow-tie antenna with power applied to carbon fiber are analyzed. The results show that the energized carbon fiber heats up, causing the structure to stretch to a flat, with a maximum gain of 2.37 dBi and the −10 dB bandwidth being 4.28–4.64 GHz and 5.16–5.52 GHz, and the half-power beamwidth is greater than 60°. The structure bends at a 30° angle with a maximum gain of 3.58 dBi in the absence of external power, delivering a −10 dB bandwidth range of 4.12–5.6 GHz and a half-power beamwidth close to 45°. The customization of antenna radiation patterns and antenna gain can be readily tuned with power control.