Ultra-light-weight kevlar/polyimide 3D woven spacer multifunctional composites for high-gain microstrip antenna

Wireless communication technology plays a crucial role in the development of aviation and aerospace owing to the increasing demand for high performance, lightweight, environmentally adaptability, and structural stability. With these advantages, three-dimensional woven spacer structure becomes a potential platform for microstrip antennas, which is a significant candidate in wireless technology. In this study, we proposed an ultra-light-weight Kevlar/polyimide 3D woven spacer microstrip antenna (3DWS-MA-T) by embedding the conductive copper threads into the fabric to form an integrated structure. The fabricated 3D woven spacer composites (3DWSCs) overcome the conflict between lightweight and strong mechanical properties, exhibiting ultra-low volume density of 0.34 g/cm3 and compressive strength of 3.8 MPa. The resulting all-textile multifunctional 3DWS-MA-T achieved superb electromagnetic performance (gain value > 5 dB) with a good impedance matching (S11 value 5 dB) for aerospace applications