THz-Characterization of Inkjet Printable Polymers

Additive manufacturing (AM) of terahertz (THz) components is a cost-effective and efficient method of rapid prototyping. This work discusses the THz characterization of AM-compatible polymers to evaluate their potential use in the fabrication of THz components. The materials under investigation are primarily used in the inkjet 3D-printing (IP) process, and are compared with other AM-compatible materials [1]. The authors analyzed heat resistant AR-H1 material, transparent AR-M2 material and flexible silicon elastomer material. After the THz time domain spectroscopy of these materials, it can be deduced that the materials AR-M2 and AR-H1 can be used in manufacturing of THz components, with the benefit of a superior printing resolution of 50 µm.

[1] A. Shrotri, A. K. Mukherjee, S. Lohöfener, A. Springer, O. Stübbe and S. Preu, "Additive manufacturing and characterization of hollow core metal and topas waveguides for Terahertz sensor systems," 2023 48th International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves (IRMMW-THz), Montreal, QC, Canada, 2023, pp. 1-2, doi: 10.1109/IRMMW-THz57677.2023.10299134.