Electroplating of 3D Printed Plastic Component for the Application of Microwave Filter

3D printing technologies offer attractive solutions for manufacturing complex microwave components for high-power applications, such as satellite antennas. Metal additive manufacturing usually requires expensive power and printing equipment, and the components are very heavy. How to produce lightweight microwave components in a fast and low-cost way is a challenge that needs to be solved. In this paper, we present a novel method to manufacture microwave filters by electroplating 3D printed thermoplastics and thermoset materials. The design concept of generating slots for better electroplating of the inner walls of microwave components is introduced. Since the slots do not cut the current flow, microwave field distribution is not influenced. Filter structures based on 3D printed plastics, coated with copper skin are produced. The coaxial filters with or without slots are studied, and a comparison with CST results is conducted to understand the benefits and limitations of this technology.