FILL

o Fill Time o Melt Temperature o Mould Temperature o Injection Pressure

Limit o In-mould Gravity

Direction o Melt Flow Rate

PACK

o Hot and Cold Runners o Co-Injection Moulding o Multi-Shot Moulding o Insert Overmoulding o Gas-Assist Moulding o Plastic & Fibre Blends o Reaction Injection

Moulding (RIM) o Valve Gates

COOL & WARP

o Accurately simulate the conditions within the mould.

o Fine tune temperatures, pressures & cooling systems to produce the best possible product.

The Injection Moulding Cycle

Capabilities

-

FILL

o Fill Time o Pressure at End of Fill o Temperature at End of

Fill o Flow Front

Temperature o Shear Stress o Frozen Layer at End of

Fill o Part Cooling Time o Ease of Fill o Velocity Vectors o Weld Lines o Air Traps o Sink Marks o Clamp Force o Cycle Time

PACK

o Birefringence o Fibre Orientation o Central Temperature at

End of Fill o Average Temperature

at End of Fill o Shear Rate at End of

Pack o Shear Stress at End of

Pack o Volumetric Shrinkage o Temperature at End of

Cooling o Pressure at End of

Pack o Temperature at End of

Pack o Shear Stress o Bulk Temperature at

End of Pack o Residual Stress at

Start of Pack

COOL & WARP

o Part Cooling Time. o Cycle Averaged

Temperature. o Temperature at End of

Cooling. o Part Temperature at End

of Cooling. o Cycle Averaged Mould

Temperature. o Mould Temperature at

Cooling End. o Cycle Averaged Heat

Transfer. o Cycle Averaged Heat

Loading. o Sink Mark Profile given

Part Deformation o In-Mould Residual Stress o Quenching Thermal

Stress o Demoulding First

Principal Stress o Deformation Animations

Results Capabilities

See the .pdf provided with the training content. The pdf shows many ways to create

custom materials the best way is to copy and paste a similar material in to the user defined

database and then edit its parameters. This is faster and if you dont have a value or miss

one accidentally you will have something similar as a point of reference.

Assuming that SolidWorks has been installed in the default location the Plastics

report template for English Language versions of the software can be found at:

C:\Program Files\SolidWorks 2014\SolidWorks Plastics\SimpoeMV\1033\PPT Template.

Anything can be changed except what the linked fields say and the total number of

slides. The linked fields generally say something like SIMPOE_FILL_RESULT and should be

left alone. The software looks for the field on the relevant slide so dont delete slides or

change the order.

Go to the SolidWorks Plastics pull-down menu > Help > Settings and click to turn on

SolidWorks Configuration Integration. Define a study for one configuration. Defining one configuration first means we can copy and paste the study to subsequent configurations saving us

the effort.

Batch Manager allows you to add multiple studies to a queue which can then be processed at a

time convenient for you. Typically I do the set up last thing on an afternoon then run the studies

overnight. Click Batch Manager and use the file browser presented on the left hand side of the

screen to navigate to where your part is saved. Select the results folder saved in the same location as

the part, click the type of study you want to run in the section below, and then click the blue plus

icon to add it to the queue. Press the play icon to start the job.

Note: If you are using configuration integration browse to the top level results folder, go in

to that folder and choose the results folders named after your SolidWorks configurations instead.

Creating Custom Materials

Customising the Report Generator

Configuration Integration

Plastics Batch Manager

TOP TIPS Functions

Q. Should I run the FLOW analysis before or after the COOL analysis?

The best procedure in many cases is to start by performing a Flow analysis to get some "baseline" results. Then, set up and run a Cooling analysis, followed by a Flow analysis which will now be more accurate thanks to the detailed cooling channel setup from the Cooling analysis. Several iterations of the above "loop" procedure may be used to optimize the cooling channel design.

Please note that if the "Run Cool + Flow + Pack + Warp" command is used, the four analyses will be solved in succession. There will be no loop iterations between the Cool and Flow analysis unless the user manually runs the Flow and Cooling analyses - S-064446

Q. What do the different Plastics Results files contain?

.PG2 - Mesh file for surface mesh + Gate Selection information

.PG3 - Mesh file for solid mesh + Gate Selection information

.KLG2 - Simulation progress summary (surface mesh). Can be viewed in notepad.

.KLG3 - Simulation progress summary (solid mesh). Can be viewed in notepad.

.KD2 - For a surface mesh, this includes details of :

Variables actually used in the simulation.

Summary of the results.

Computation time of Flow and Flow + Pack.

Can be viewed in notepad.

.KD3 - For a solid mesh, this includes details of :

Variables actual used in the simulation.

Summary of the results.

Computation time of Flow and Flow + Pack.

Can be viewed in notepad.

.MCH - Summary of molding machine details.

.mdata - Mesh settings.

.MAL - Material data file.

.POE - Exported files containing result information, which can be read in SolidWorks Simulation

2014 and up.

Q. Why is my runner sketch invalid?

Runners must be continual so that the direction of flow can be calculated. Check for any

gaps and ensure all end points are merged. Ensure that the end points of lines only join with other

endpoints i.e. not the length of the line itself (so it would take 3 lines to create a T shape).

TOP TIPS FAQs

Q. How do I show Jetting? To generate results that will accurately show Jetting you

need to use a Solid Mesh. Once meshed go in to the Fill Settings,

in to the Advanced section and choose Options. In the window

that opens set the Volume of Fluid (VoF) Algorithm option to

Direct. Dont use it on the whole cavity as the solver time will

increase. On the Fill results look for a worm like structure forming.

Q. How do I calculate Birefringence?

SolidWorks Plastics calculates Stress Birefringence where deformation or stress causes the

optical isotropy to be lost in one direction. In the Fill Settings go in to the Advanced section and tick

the Viscoelastic Birefringence Calculation checkbox. The results will be shown in the Fill Results.

Q. What do the two air temperatures control?

Within the Cool Settings Air temperature is the temperature acting on the outer face of the

mould. The air temperature within the Warp Settings is the temperature acting on the part once it

has been ejected. The variable is repeated as the air temperature between the open moulds halves

will be significantly higher than the air surrounding the ejected part.

Q. How do the Cool Settings know the Eject temperature before the

analysis has been ran?

Eject temperature is a characteristic of the material properties specified by material

provider. The Eject temperature is known as the Heat Deflection/Distortion Temperature in many

material specifications. The temperature is required to ensure that a thick enough portion of the

parts walls reaches the glass transition temperature before it is ejected (Nb. providing other

specified material properties are met). If this value is raised the part could still be molten when it is

ejected. If you want to extend the in mould cooling time its best to switch to Cooling time and

increase the value.

Q. Why cant I see any weld lines?

You may be calculating for a small range of weld lines. Check the Advanced settings in the Fill

parameters and the weld angle. 180deg would be a head on collision 90deg would be a parallel flow.

Notes: