Ceramic filled resin based 3D printed X-band dual-mode bandpass filter with enhanced thermal handling capability

A miniaturised spherical resonator based X-band dual-mode bandpass filter that is 3D printed using a ceramic filled photosensitive resin is the first time presented. This filter has substantially enhanced thermal handling capability than its counterparts that are printed out of the conventional resins with a relatively low working temperature. The filter's thermal handling capability is experimentally characterised by measuring its RF performance under different working temperatures using a pair of tailor made aluminium thermal isolators to separate the network analyser from the heat source. The measured results demonstrate that the ceramic resin based filter is capable of operating at much higher temperatures, and has a much better thermal stability than the one made of ordinary resin, without losing its intrinsic light-weight advantage over the one made of metal. This type of thermally-stable ceramic filled resin can be widely applied to stereolithography-based 3D printed lightweight microwave and millimetre-wave waveguide devices.