About this Abstract |
Meeting |
2021 Annual International Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium (SFF Symp 2021)
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Symposium
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Special Session
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Presentation Title |
Hybrid Laser Powder Bed Fusion of Aluminum Alloy Radio Frequency Resonators |
Author(s) |
Alexander R. Riensche, Paul Carriere, Ziyad Smoqi, Andrew Menendez, Pedro Frigola, Nanda Gopal Matavalam, Prahalada Rao |
On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Alexander R. Riensche |
Abstract Scope |
Radio frequency (RF) components are intricate, high-value components. Conventional manufacturing of RF components imposes two bottlenecks: cumbersome assembly of multiple parts that are produced with different processes, and lack of flexibility to rapidly customize design for targeting specific RF bandwidths. Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is an attractive solution to make RF components given its ability to accommodate design complexity and dimensional accuracy. However, a main impediment in LPBF is its poor surface finish. In this work, we apply a hybrid LPBF approach for making aluminum alloy RF resonators. The key idea is to use in-situ layer-wise machining to enable high quality finish on hard-to-access surfaces which are difficult, if not impossible, to machine or polish post-LPBF. Hybrid LPBF is shown to improve resonator RF performance (Q-factor) by enhancing both dimensional accuracy and surface finish. |
Proceedings Inclusion? |
Definite: Post-meeting proceedings |