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US 8,246,888 B2Granted
Support material for digital manufacturing systems
AssigneeStratasys, Inc.
InventorsPaul E. Hopkins, William R. Priedeman, Jr., Jeffrey F. Bye
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A support material feedstock comprising a first copolymer and a polymeric impact modifier, where the first copolymer includes a first monomer unit comprising a carboxyl group and a second monomer unit comprising a phenyl group.
Claims20
A method for building a three-dimensional model with a digital manufacturing system, the method comprising:
- at least partially melting a support material in the digital manufacturing system, wherein the support material comprises a first copolymer and a second copolymer, wherein the first copolymer comprises a plurality of carboxyl monomer units derived from acrylic acid monomers, a plurality of phenyl monomer units, and a plurality of first carboxylate ester monomer units derived from first alkyl acrylate monomers, and wherein the second copolymer comprises a plurality of epoxy-terminated carboxylate ester monomer units and a plurality of second carboxylate ester monomer units derived from second alkyl acrylate monomers;
- depositing the at least partially melted support material onto a platform of the digital manufacturing system using a layer-based additive technique to form a support structure;
- depositing a modeling material onto the platform of the digital manufacturing system using the layer-based additive technique to form the three-dimensional model, wherein the three-dimensional model comprises at least one overhanging region supported by the support structure;
- and
- substantially removing the support structure from the three-dimensional model with an aqueous solution.
2 more elements
A method for building a three-dimensional model with a digital manufacturing system, the method comprising:
- feeding a support material to a liquefier of the digital manufacturing system, the support material comprising a first copolymer and a second copolymer, wherein the first copolymer comprises a plurality of pendant carboxyl groups having a formula COOH, a plurality of pendant phenyl groups, and a plurality of first pendant carboxylate ester groups having a formula COOR(1), wherein R(1) is a first alkyl group, and wherein the second copolymer comprises a plurality of pendant epoxy-terminated carboxylate ester groups and a plurality of second pendant carboxylate ester groups having a formula COOR(2), wherein R(2) is a second alkyl group;
- at least partially melting the support material in the liquefier;
- and
- extruding the at least partly molten support material from the liquefier;
- and
- depositing the extruded support material onto a platform using a layer-based additive technique to build a support structure for the three-dimensional model.
3 more elements
A method for building a three-dimensional model with a digital manufacturing system, the method comprising:
- providing a support material to the digital manufacturing system, the support material comprising:
- a first copolymer comprising:
- a plurality of carboxyl monomer units each having a carboxyl group with a formula COOH;
- a plurality of phenyl monomer units each having a phenyl group;
- and
- a plurality of first ester monomer units each having a first carboxylate ester group with a formula COOR(1), wherein R1) is a first alkyl group;
- and
- a second copolymer comprising:
- a plurality of epoxy monomer units each having an epoxy-terminated carboxylate ester group;
- and
- a plurality of second ester monomer units each having a second carboxylate ester group with a formula COOR(2), wherein R(2) is a second alkyl group;
- wherein the support material is soluble in an alkaline aqueous solution;
- at least partially melting the support material in the digital manufacturing system;
- depositing and cooling the at least partially melted support material to build a support structure from the support material with the digital manufacturing system using a layer-based additive technique, the support structure being built to support the three-dimensional model.
11 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.