metal

Conductor material

Since R2021a

Syntax

m = metal(material)

m = metal(Name,Value)

Description

m = metal(material) returns the metal used as a conductor in the antenna elements. You can specify a material from the MetalCatalog. The default value for material is perfect electric conductor (PEC).

m = metal(Name,Value) returns the metal, based on the properties specified by one or more Name-Value Pair Arguments.

Examples

Monocone Antenna with Steel Conductor

Use steel as the as a conductor for a monocone antenna.

m = metal('Steel')

m = 
  metal with properties:

            Name: 'Steel'
    Conductivity: 6990000
       Thickness: 6.8000e-04

For more materials see catalog

Create a monocone antenna using the monocone antenna object.

ant = monocone('Conductor',m)

ant = 
  monocone with properties:

                Radii: [5.0000e-04 0.0110 0.0110]
    GroundPlaneRadius: 0.0325
           ConeHeight: 0.0115
               Height: 0.0250
           FeedHeight: 5.0000e-04
            FeedWidth: 5.0000e-04
            Conductor: [1x1 metal]
                 Tilt: 0
             TiltAxis: [1 0 0]
                 Load: [1x1 lumpedElement]

View the antenna using the show function.

show(ant)

Customize Metal Properties

Create an annealed copper conductor with the conductivity of 5.8001e07 S/m and thickness of 1e-04 m.

m = metal('Name','Annealed Copper','Conductivity',5.8001e07,'Thickness',1e-04)

m = 
  metal with properties:

            Name: 'Annealed Copper'
    Conductivity: 58001000
       Thickness: 1.0000e-04

For more materials see catalog

Create a birdcage antenna using the annealed copper conductor.

ant = birdcage('Conductor',m)

ant = 
  birdcage with properties:

         NumRungs: 16
       CoilRadius: 0.4000
       CoilHeight: 0.0400
       RungHeight: 0.4600
     ShieldRadius: 0
     ShieldHeight: 0
          Phantom: []
    FeedLocations: [2x3 double]
      FeedVoltage: 1
        FeedPhase: 0
        Conductor: [1x1 metal]
             Tilt: 0
         TiltAxis: [1 0 0]
             Load: [1x1 lumpedElement]

View the antenna using show function.

show(ant)

Compare Impedance Values of Microstrip Patch Antennas with Different Metal Patches

Create and visualize the patch microstrip antennas of PEC, copper, silver, and aluminium metal patches.

ant_patchPEC = patchMicrostrip('Substrate',dielectric('FR4'),'Conductor',metal('PEC'));
show(ant_patchPEC)

ant_patchCopper = patchMicrostrip('Substrate',dielectric('FR4'),'Conductor',metal('Copper'));
show(ant_patchCopper)

ant_patchSilver = patchMicrostrip('Substrate',dielectric('FR4'),'Conductor',metal('Silver'));
show(ant_patchSilver)

ant_patchAluminium = patchMicrostrip('Substrate',dielectric('FR4'),'Conductor',metal('Aluminium'));
show(ant_patchAluminium)

Compare the impedance values at a frequency of 1.2 GHz.

Z_patchPEC = impedance(ant_patchPEC,1.2e09)

Z_patchPEC = 1.4800 + 8.4339i

Z_patchCopper = impedance(ant_patchCopper,1.2e09)

Z_patchCopper = 1.5197 + 8.4763i

Z_patchSilver = impedance(ant_patchSilver,1.2e09)

Z_patchSilver = 1.8451 + 8.4489i

Z_patchAluminium = impedance(ant_patchAluminium,1.2e09)

Z_patchAluminium = 1.5300 + 8.4872i

Input Arguments

material — Material from metal catalog

'PEC' (default) | character vector

Material from the dielectric catalog, specified as a metal from the MetalCatalog. The default material is PEC, which has infinite conductivity and zero thickness.

Example: 'Iron'

Data Types: char

Name-Value Arguments

Specify optional pairs of arguments as Name1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN, where Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the pairs does not matter.

Before R2021a, use commas to separate each name and value, and enclose Name in quotes.

Example: 'Name','Iron'

Name — Name of metal material

character vector

Name of the metal material you want to use as a conductor, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'Name' and a character vector.

Example: 'Name','Tungsten'

Data Types: char

Conductivity — Conductivity of metal material

Inf (default) | scalar

Conductivity of the metal material, specified as a scalar in Siemens per meters(S/m). If you set 'Conductivity' to 'Inf', you must set 'Thickness' to '0'.

Example: 'Conductivity',4.8e06

Data Types: double

Note

In Antenna Toolbox™, the minimum value of conductivity value is 1e05 S/m.

Thickness — Thickness of metal

0 (default) | scalar

Thickness of the metal material along the default z-axis, specified as a scalar in meters.

Example: 'Thickness',0.26e-6

Data Types: double

Note

In Antenna Toolbox, the upper limit to thickness value is 1e-03 m.

Output Arguments

m — Conductor metal

metal object

Conductor metal, returned as a metal object. You can create an antenna using the metal object.

Version History

Introduced in R2021a