Contactless Mapping of Conductive 3D Printed Metamaterials

Additive manufacturing of conductive materials is an area of high interest in the metamaterials and electronics communities as it has the potential of creating diverse structures faster and cheaper than alternative methods. However, there are still concerns associated with this technology such as the lack of homogeneity or defect presence. This paper presents a method of quality control which can be implemented within or after the printing stage. A small split ring resonator sensor is used to scan the surface and distinguish between regions with or without conductive material. This method will be supported by numerical simulations and experimental results. The resolution of the probe is below 2 mm and it will be shown that invisible defects can be detected.