plated plastic waveguide?

[biff44]

Anyone do any plated plastic waveguide, like small waveguide horns at 24 GHz? If so, what is the process? What metal is it plated with, what metal thickness, anything special about the plastic used, what to watch out for, etc?

Thanks,
Rich

 

[FvM]

I would primarly think of the metallization of plastic enclosures used for EM shielding purposes. Galvanic copper/nickel coating and vacuum aluminium depositions are common processes. They are often applied on ABS plastic, but should work on other materials as well. In my opinion, they should be basically suited for waveguides, except for high power levels.

Placing a CD in a microwave oven demonstrates the behaviour of a thin metallization at high power levels.

 

[biff44]

Yes, this is low power. < 10 dBm.