Abstract:To reduce the weight of antenna structures and improve the structural efficiency of the integrative antenna structures, a flexible and conformal membrane antenna is proposed. The microstrip quasi-yagi antenna is designed and prepared based on the antenna design theory and screen printing technology. The radiation layer is considered as a particle reinforced composite. The effective elastic modulus of the radiation layer is predicted using Mori-Tanaka method, which is in good agreement with that obtained by tensile method. To reveal the interface failure process during 90° peel test, the interface property between the substrate and radiation layer of the antenna is studied based on cohesive finite element model using ABAQUS software. The peel strength predicted by FEA is 64N/m and verified by experiment, which has the error of 8.11%. Finally, the reflection coefficient and radiation performance of the membrane antenna are discussed. The simulated resonance frequency is 3.02 GHz, which has the error of 2.37%. The results show that the flexible membrane antenna prepared based on screen printing technology has good mechanical and electric properties, which has extensive potential applications in aerospace lightweight structures.