Water soluble support materials for high temperature additive manufacturing applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018370121-A1
Application number	US-201616064286-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 20, 2016
Priority date	Dec 24, 2015
Publication date	Dec 27, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A polymeric blend includes a blend of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) polymers. The polymeric material includes a blend of at least two PVP polymers wherein at least one of the PVP polymers has an average molecular weight of about 40,000 daltons or greater. The support material can be thermally stable at temperatures above 80° C. The support material is disintegrable in aqueous solutions such as tap water.

First claim

1 . A water soluble support material for an additive manufacturing system having a build environment, the material comprising:
a polymeric matrix comprising a plurality of PVP polymer species wherein the plurality of PVP polymer species comprises a first PVP polymer species with an average molecular weight of about 40,000 daltons or greater, wherein the support material is disintegrable in an aqueous solution.

2 . The material of claim 1 , wherein the first PVP polymer species has an average molecular weight of about 450,000 daltons or greater.

3 . The material of claim 1 wherein the plurality of PVP polymer species comprises a second PVP polymer species having an average molecular weight of less than about 450,000 daltons, wherein the average molecular weight of the second PVP polymer species is less than the average molecular weight of the first PVP species.

4 . The material of claim 3 wherein the average molecular weight of the first PVP polymer species is about 450,000 daltons or greater and the average molecular weight of the second PVP polymer species is between about 9,000 daltons and about 450,000 daltons.

5 . The material of claim 1 wherein the material further comprises one or more additives, the one or more additives comprising a rheology modifier, an elastomer and/or combinations thereof.

6 . The material of claim 1 wherein the material has thermal stability in the build environment maintained at a temperature of about 80° C. or greater.

7 . The material of claim 1 wherein the aqueous solution is selected from tap water and an aqueous solution with a pH between about pH 5 and about pH 9.

8 . The material of claim 1 wherein the polymeric matrix comprises at least two PVP polymer species wherein the first PVP polymer has an average molecular weight of about 1,400,000 daltons, the second PVP polymer has an average molecular weight of between about 50,000 daltons.

9 . A water soluble support material for an additive manufacturing system having a build environment, the material comprising:
a polymeric matrix comprising a first PVP polymer species and an impact modifier, wherein the first PVP polymer species has an average molecular weight of about 40,000 daltons or greater and wherein the support material is disintegrable in an aqueous solution.

10 . The material of claim 9 , wherein the PVP polymer species has an average molecular weight of about 450,000 daltons or greater.

11 . The material of claim 9 wherein the material further comprises a second PVP polymer species having an average molecular weight of less than about 450,000 daltons, wherein the average molecular weight of the second PVP polymer species is less than the average molecular weight of the first PVP species.

12 . The material of claim 9 wherein the material further comprises one or more additives, the one or more additives comprising a rheology modifier, an elastomer and/or combinations thereof.

13 . The material of claim 9 wherein the material has thermal stability in the build environment maintained at a temperature of about 80° C. or greater.

14 . The material of claim 9 wherein the aqueous solution is selected from tap water and an aqueous solution with a pH between about pH 5 and about pH 9.

15 . The material of claim 9 and where in the impact modifier comprises copolymers of ethylene, glycidyl methacrylate, one or more alkyl (meth)acrylates and combinations thereof.

16 . A method for printing a three-dimensional part with an additive manufacturing system, the method comprising:
providing a support material comprising a plurality of PVP polymer species wherein the first PVP polymer species has an average molecular weight of about 40,000 daltons or greater, wherein the support material is disintegrable in an aqueous solution and provided in a media form suitable for the additive manufacturing system; and processing the support material in the additive manufacturing system with a model material.

17 . The method of claim 16 wherein the second PVP polymer species has an average molecular weight of less than about 40,000 daltons.

18 . The method of claim 16 wherein the support material further comprises one or more additives, the one or more additives comprise a rheology modifier, an impact modifier, an elastomer and combinations thereof.

19 . The method of claim 16 wherein the aqueous solution is selected from tap water and an aqueous solution with a pH between about pH 5 and about pH 9.

20 . The method of claim 16 wherein the build environment of the additive manufacturing system is maintained at a temperature of about 80° C. or greater.

Assignees

• Stratasys Inc

Inventors

• Demuth Benjamin A
• Pawloski Adam R

Classifications

• B29K2105/258

  Tubular · CPC title

• B29C64/40

  Structures for supporting 3D objects during manufacture and intended to be sacrificed after completion thereof · CPC title

• C08L39/06

  Homopolymers or copolymers of N-vinyl-pyrrolidones · CPC title

• B29K2039/06

  Polymers of N-vinyl-pyrrolidones · CPC title

• B33Y10/00

  Processes of additive manufacturing · CPC title