Wirth, Sebastian G.Morrow, Ivor L.Horsfall, Ian2019-03-062019-03-062019-02-18Wirth S, Morrow IL, Horsfall I. (2018) Fabrication procedure and performance of 3D printed X-band horn antenna. In: 2018 Loughborough Antennas & Propagation Conference (LAPC 2018), 12-13 November 2018, Loughborough, UK978-1-78561-969-4https://doi.org/10.1049/cp.2018.1481http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/13966This paper presents the design, fabrication and performance of fusion deposition modeled 3D printed X-band horn antennas. The WR90 waveguide feed and pyramidal horn flare are printed as one piece from Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS). Different metallisation techniques are assessed to provide a uniform 40 micron coat on the ABS surfaces. Uniquely, the coaxial waveguide launcher is integrated with the waveguide section in a single interference fit operation. The measured and simulated radiation patterns showed good correlation and the antenna return loss was ≤−10dB over the 8.212.4GHz operating range. The measured and simulated antenna gain was in good agreement and increased monotonically from 10–17 ± 1.0dBi across the operating frequency.enAttribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/coating techniquesmicrostrip antennasantenna radiation patternsmetallisationcoating techniques; microstrip antennas; antenna radiation patterns; metallisation; antenna feeds; horn antennas; coaxial waveguides; three-dimensional printingConference paper