Non Destructive Testing & Material Characterization

In RF systems dielectric materials are not only mechanical but functional components, e.g. as substrate material for planar circuits, dielectric waveguides, RF-agile additive manufacturing or antenna radomes. For the computer aided design of such RF components the knowledge of the dielectric material properties in terms of the permittivity (\varepsilon_\text{r}) and loss tangent (\tan_\delta) are very important. The LHFT is constantly developing new setups for high precission material characterization in the microwave to THz frequency range to accommodate new materials and manufacturing technologies and processes.
Adding space resolution to the material characterization enables a variety of non-destructive testing applications e.g. for quality assurance, process monitoring, endurance testing and security. Microwave and THz NDT perfectly complement classical NDT technologies for components which cannot be tested adequately with ultrasonic testing, thermography or x-ray (e.g. foam materials, sandwich composits..)

Contact:

Dr.-Ing. Jan Schür, Akad. Dir.

Research Group Leader: Non-Destructive Testing, Material Characterization and THz Technology