Additive manufacturing of complementary split ring resonator frequency selective surfaces

Purpose This paper aims to demonstrate an accessible and affordable technique for fabricating complementary split ring resonator (CSRR) frequency selective surfaces (FSS) using common desktop additive manufacturing technologies and commercially available conductive paint, overcoming the cost and time barriers often associated with conventional metamaterial fabrication. Design/methodology/approach CSRR structures targeting the 2.4 GHz band were designed, simulated using electromagnetic modeling software and fabricated via fused deposition modeling (FDM) with polylactic acid and stereolithography (SLA) with ClearV5 resin. Commercially available silver conductive paint was applied to the surfaces of the 3D printed parts to achieve electrical conductivity, leveraging the skin effect. The frequency responses (transmission S21, reflection S11) of the resulting FSS were experimentally characterized using a vector network analyzer from 1.8 to 3 GHz and compared with simulation results. Findings Both FDM and SLA fabricated CSRRs successfully exhibited the expected band-pass filtering behavior near the target frequency, validating the fabrication approach. SLA samples showed excellent agreement with simulated resonant frequency (2.39 GHz) and required minimal post-processing, but demonstrated lower peak transmittance (40.4%) due to higher material absorbance (58.8%). FDM samples required surface preparation (sanding/priming) for paint adhesion and exhibited a slight frequency shift (−30 MHz), yet achieved higher peak transmittance (46.0%). Discrepancies from ideal simulated performance are attributed to inherent material losses, printing inaccuracies and conductive coating quality. Originality/value This paper presents a validated low-cost and rapid methodology for producing functional microwave FSS using readily available desktop additive manufacturing equipment. It significantly contributes by demonstrating the direct fabrication of the resonant metamaterial structures themselves via additive manufacturing and conductive coating, rather than limiting additive manufacturing to nonconductive substrates or supports.