THE ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITIES OF STEEL AND OTHER CANDIDATE MATERIALS FOR SHROUDS IN A BEAM-WAVE-GUIDE ANTENNA SYSTEM

This article presents the results of electrical conductivity measureme nts made at 8.420 GHz on samples of the structural steel material used to fabricate shrouds on a Deep Space Network (DSN) 34-m-diameter beam -waveguide (BWG) antenna, Test results show that the structural steel samples at this microwave frequency had effective conductivities that were about 50 times worse than published de values and also 230 times worse than the measured conductivities of aluminum test samples. Condu ctivity data are also presented for other candidate materials that cou ld be used to fabricate BWG shrouds. Of interest are the improvements or degradations that were observed after some of the metal test sample s were surface treated, plated, or painted.