Evaluation of High Performance Aluminum for Microwave Filters

In this paper, an in depth material characterization for a high performance Aluminum alloy is provided. The Aluminum alloy is presented as alternative for the manufacturing of waveguide filters, performing a very good thermal stability with respect to standard Aluminum and a providing a thermal conductivity better than Invar. The proposed Aluminum alloy performs a poor electrical conductivity and, in the case of high Q filters, metal coating (e.g. silver, gold) is required. Main advantages related to the use of this material are in terms of high stability of the filter response with the temperature variation without requiring a complex thermal stability system commonly required in standard Aluminum based filters, lightweight structures compared with Invar and high power handling with respect to Invar based filters thanks to the good thermal stability.