IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and North American Radio Science Meeting - IEEE AP-S/URSI 2025, Ottawa (Canada). 12-18 July 2025
Summary:
This study presents the design and fabrication of a 3D-printed porous dielectric resonator (DR) as a self-sensing scaffold for monitoring bone regeneration. Full-wave simulations confirmed that the porous DR behaves like a conventional rectangular DR, with similar electromagnetic field distributions but with a frequency shift due to the inclusion of porosity. Using FDM 3D printing technology, a porous zirconia-based scaffold were fabricated. The dielectric properties of the scaffold were further tailored to simulate bone growth by adding hydroxyapatite (HA) layers, resulting in detectable shifts in resonant frequency. The results demonstrate that these frequency shifts can be approximated by an inverse proportional function of the HA layer thickness, highlighting the potential of this scaffold as a passive sensor to monitor the bone regeneration process non-invasively.
Spanish layman's summary:
Se diseña un andamio poroso impreso en 3D que actúa como sensor pasivo para monitorizar la regeneración ósea. Cambios en su frecuencia de resonancia, al simular el crecimiento del hueso, permiten un seguimiento no invasivo del proceso.
English layman's summary:
A porous 3D-printed scaffold is designed as a passive sensor to monitor bone regeneration. Changes in its resonant frequency, caused by simulating bone growth, enable non-invasive tracking of the healing process.
Keywords: Dielectric Resonator (DR), microwave sensor, bone scaffold, additive manufacturing, biomedical applications
Publication date: 2025-07-12.
Citation:
P. Sofokleous, E. Paz, F.J. Herraiz-Martínez, 3D-Printed Porous Dielectric Resonator as a Self-Sensing Scaffold, IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and North American Radio Science Meeting - IEEE AP-S/URSI 2025, Ottawa (Canada). 12-18 July 2025.
