Assessment of 3D Printing Technologies for Millimeter Wave Reflectors

Three different 3D printing technologies: Stereolithography (SLA), Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) and HP Multi Jet Fusion Technology (MJF) are compared to build a parabolic reflector operating at 100 GHz. Fabrication tolerance and surface roughness before and after metallization are accurately measured. The performance of the reflectors is measured in the near field and its performance is compared against an optical grade reflector. In this way the performance of the final product is thoroughly assesse