## 4 Conclusions  
This study investigated the impact of PTFE expansion in an uncooled insulated monopole antenna on return loss and the resulting ablation zone. Two types of expansion were observed during ablative temperature PTFE expansion characterisation: predominant permanent expansion attributed to residual stresses caused during manufacturing and expansion attributed to linear expansion of PTFE. This study further demonstrated that annealing suppresses the first type of expansion. Ablation experiments have shown that PTFE expansion reduces return loss of the antenna. This reduction in return loss causes the ablation lesion to become more elongated, increasing ellipticity. Finally, this study demonstrated that pre-annealing RG405 coaxial cable prior to antenna fabrication improves the performance of an uncooled coaxial insulated monopole antenna. This finding is significant, as it facilitates the practical use of an uncooled antenna, capitalising on its advantages in dual-mode applications.  
Conceptualisation, E.J.D., L.F., C.S. and F.C.; methodology F.C. and E.J.D.; software, F.C. and E.J.D.; validation, F.C., E.J.D., L.F., A.R., J.B. and I.F.; formal analysis, F.C.; investigation, F.C.; resources, J.B. and I.F.; data curation, J.B. and I.F.; writing--original draft preparation, F.C.; writing--review and editing, F.C., E.J.D., L.F., C.S. and A.R.; visualisation, F.C.; supervision, E.J.D., L.F. and C.S.; project administration, E.J.D., L.F. and C.S.; funding acquisition, E.J.D., L.F. and C.S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This research received no external funding.  
**Institutional Review Board Statement:** The animal study protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board (or Ethics Committee) of the University of Malta (protocol code SCI-2022-00140 and date of approval 19 April 2023).  
**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.  
**Data Availability Statement:** The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy.  
**Acknowledgments:** This work was supported in part by the project 'Setting up of transdisciplinary research and knowledge exchange (TRAKE) complex at the University of Malta (ERDF.01.124)', which is being co-financed through the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund 2014-2020. This work was developed as part of the Project Ablaze, funded by Xjenza Malta and Technology and the Scientific Technological Research Council of Turkiye (TUBITAK) through the Xjenza Malta-TUBITAK 2023 Joint Call for R&I projects. This initiative is part of the PRIMA programme supported by the European Union. The authors thank the Department of Microelectronics and Nanoelectronics for providing their electric temperature test chamber and for assistance. The authors thank [PERSON] and [PERSON] for providing their camera and lens and for their assistance.  
**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.