Broadband Dielectric Characterization from 10 mHz to 100 GHz of a 3D Printable Material

This work presents an array of experimental techniques that have been used to characterize dielectric properties (permittivity and dissipation factor) of 3D printed acrylate-based polymer over a wide frequency range. At frequencies below 10 MHz, a parallel plate capacitor method provides accurate permittivity and loss results. At frequencies above 10 MHz, there are two general types of measurement techniques, resonant and transmission/reflection. Resonant measurements are at discrete frequencies and have high accuracy for low loss dielectrics with dissipation factors below 1%. Transmission/reflection methods have the advantage of being broadband and cover a large frequency range (1 MHz to 110 GHz); however, the accuracy limits measurement to high loss samples. A reflection method for the 1 MHz to 2 GHz frequency range was specifically developed for polymers and polymer composites. In this study, parallel plate, resonant and transmission line methods have been used to characterize the dielectric properties of 3D printed acrylic based polymer from 10 mHz to 100 GHz. A relaxation peak, which is associated from the motion of polar groups of side chains, was observed as a loss peak at the frequency range of 10⁴-10¹⁰Hz and shows the need for characterization methods over a broad frequency range.