Patent ID: 8246888

Claim:
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.