A good mold flow analysis has lots of benefits, although it is time consuming, the cost is much lower than the cost of trials during nights and days on a production injection molding machine. The difficulty is not to produce colored pictures but to explain to the customers the different results, some customers have enough knowledge to understand some others no.
In 90% of cases, I work before the injection mold is cut, so I am ready to take the responsibility of cycle time, warpage, sink marks and so others issues. I am specialized in gas assisted injection molding and I assist Chinese companies to produce plastic parts for the German automotive industry which generally use overflow. With short shot process, we can obtain a production costs reduction of 20% by simulation and 30% in practice.
Moldflow is very important tool for verifying mold design and product design, I can say it is 99.9% helpful, mold flow analysis has lots of advantages and will save a lot of money.
Mold flow analysis can provide you following benefits:
Moldflow Filling Analysis
- Optimize gating
- Optimize runner system
- Predict fill pattern
- Predict injection pressure
- Determine clamp tonnage
- Predict temperatures
- Visualize shear rate
- Visualize shear stress
- Determine fiber orientation
- Predict volumetric shrinkage
- Predict sink
- Determine venting
- Avoid air traps
- Locate weld (knit) lines
- Develop optimum ram-speed profile
Moldflow Cooling Analysis
- Find hot spots
- Calculate time to freeze
- Visualize uneven cooling across core and cavity
- Determine uneven cooling between core and cavity
- Define required coolant flow rates
- Measure pressure drop in cooling system
- Determine (and reduce) cycle time
- Optimize the cooling layout
Moldflow Packing Analysis
- Calculate proper packing pressure
- Define optimum packing profile
Moldflow Warpage Analysis
- Predict warpage
- Find cause of warpage
- Determine warpage due to orientation
- Predict warpage due to differential cooling
- Understand warpage due to differential shrinkage
Moldflow Gas-Assist Analysis
- Determine optimized gas channel layout
- Predict gas penetration
- See gas permeation
- Predict skin/core ratio Establish required gas pressure
- Define optimized gas pressure profile
- Refine spillover design
Moldflow Co-Injection Analysis
- Compute skin/core ratio
- Calculate skin/core distribution
- Establish switch over points for skin/core (A-B)
- Establish switch over points skin/core/skin (A-B-A)
We see benefits of using mold flow analysis technology in companies that correctly understand the power of the different simulation tools, and when and by whom these tools can be used. During the product design, many decisions are made that affect cost and quality, and unfortunately many decisions are made in a knowledge vacuum by a product designer. Once he/she is done many of the costs are locked in. Moldflow introduced Autodesk Simulation DFM, to help a designer develop a viable plastic part (this is as much as you can expect from a designer). Feedback on manufacturability is provided in real time. It uses minimal input from the designer, and can help avoid basic and obvious mistakes before they become expensive.
After the designer is done, someone has to figure out how to make the plastic part. This requires expertise and a different set of tools like Moldflow Adviser or Insight. This requires a different user, more precise input and results accuracy. These tools should ideally be used throughout the product development, rather than at one single stage in the process. A designer does not have the background of plastics expert, and analyst should not have to chase down basic design errors.
