Injection Molding Simulation

How to interpret simulation results

Introduction of Filling

Filling Pattern
 During the filling process, polymer
melt is propelled into the mold cavity
by pressure.
 The pressure source comes from the
sprue where the pressure is the
highest.

Melt Front

Flow between Plates

Tube Flow

Radial Flow

Melt Front

Introduction of Filling

High
pressure

Filling Pattern
 The highest pressure is
from gate
 Pressure reduces due to
flow friction
 The melt front propagates
due to pressure gradient
 The coarse melt front time
isocurves imply smooth
filling
 The dense melt front time
isocurves imply high flow
resistance

Thin area is
difficult to flow

Thick area is easy to

flow

Introduction of Filling

Filling Pattern
 Normally, the flow towards
areas of the cavity with
minimum resistance.
 If the flow is faster, it
indicates the area has a
lower resistive force against
the flow.
 On the other hand, a very
slow advancement of melt
front represents an area
having a large resistive
force.

Introduction of Filling

Effects caused by part thickness

 Since the thermal conductivity of
thermoplastics is low, the thick
portions cannot release its heat
easily.
 Thicker portion are usually the
hotter areas in the cavity at the
same time.
 Thinner portions of the plastic parts
have a large flow resistance and
the flow is therefore much more
difficult.
 High shear rates due to low
thickness will result in significant
viscous heating.

Introduction of Filling

High-Speed filling: Flow control

 High speeding filling results in a
high shear rate.
 Viscosity of thermoplastics may
decrease due to shear heating and
thus reduces its flow resistance.
 Viscous heating effect can also
reduce the thickness of the
solidification layer in the thin area.

Introduction of Filling

Low-speed filling: Heat transfer

control
 Slow filling will result in low
viscosity shear thinning effect,
which implies more energy is
required to force the melt to fill
the cavity.
 Cooling effects are especially
critical at regions with low
thickness.
 Thicker portions are easier to get
filled with low-speed filling than
with high-speed filling rate.

Introduction of Filling

Fountain flow
 The flow front is of a spreading
or smearing nature, which is
generally referred as fountain
flow due to the no-slip flow
characteristics on the mold
surface.

Introduction of Filling

Fountain flow weld line

 The picture shows most of the
macromolecular chains at the melt
front are parallel to fountain flow.
 There exist some clear lines on the
surface of the part, which are the
so-called weld lines.
 Weld lines are not only negative
effect but also generating stress
problems due to its microscopically
subcompact structure.

Weld lines

Introduction of Filling

Hot welding
 Weld lines are formed by inserts
splitting the flow of the polymer
at high temperature areas.
 It often occurs during the filling
process. The melt temperature
is sufficiently high to prevent
poor weld line strength.

Insert Weld line due to hot welding

Introduction of Filling

Cold welding
 It occurs under low temperature.
 It is commonly seen at the end
of filling and at the intersection
of different melt front.
 The melt temperature is usually
low at the end of filling, so the
weld line strength is poor.

Gate

Gate
Gate
Weld lines due to cold welding

Introduction of Filling

Displacement of weld line

 The thrust action would
displace the internal weld
surface.
 It is caused by internal melt flow
and is regarded as an
underflow effect.
 It would further weaken the
strength of weld line.

Introduction of Filling

Molecular orientation
 The behavior of molecular
orientation is caused by the
difference in the external forces
on the macromolecule. i.e.,
velocity difference.

Introduction of Filling

The trend of molecular

orientation
 Molecular chains are generally
aligned along the main flow
direction.
 The shear rate at the middle
layer is the lowest, and
molecular chains are randomly
oriented.
 Molecules near the walls are
oriented along the flow direction.

Introduction of Filling

Hesitation
 The area having a
hesitation is prone to
freeze the plastic flow
faster than expected,
which generally leads to
incomplete fill.
 To avoid hesitation, the
gate should be located far
from the thin areas as
much as possible.

Hesitation

Introduction of Filling

Racetrack
 The race track phenomenon
is due to different flow
resistance within filling
process.
 Racetrack tends to form
defects like internal welding
line, burnt mark and
incomplete filling.

Racetrack due to
different wall thickness

Possible internal
weld line

Introduction of Filling

Air trap
 Inspect the melt front
advancement for any airtrap problem.
 Moldex3D can identify air
traps automatically.
 Air traps usually result in
burn marks
Air trap

Introduction of Filling

Flow balance (single cavity)

 Pay attention to flow
balance while using multiple
gates.
 Always try to balance the
flow so each gate provides
a similar flow contribution.
 You need eDesign to
evaluate runner effects

Flow mark

Dominant gate
Unbalanced runner system

Introduction of Filling

Flow balance (multiple cavities)

 According to the analysis of melt
front advancement, molds with
multiple cavities can be checked
if each cavity is filled evenly and if
the flow balance is good.
 You need Moldex3D/eDesign to
perform flow balance of multicavity mold.

Unbalanced runner system

Cavities that may be

incompletely filled

Cavities that are

overpacked

Introduction of Filling
Material

Shear rate distribution

 If the shear rate is too high,
it could stretch the
molecular chains too much
and lead to chain breakage.
 Normally, high shear rate
occurs at gates and thin
cavities.

Max. allowable shear rate (1/s)

ABS

50,000

PP

100,000

PS

40,000

HIPS

40,000

PA6

60,000

PA66

60,000

PBT

50,000

PET

50,000

PC

40,000

PC/ABS

40,000

PMMA

40,000

POM

40,000

PPS

50,000

LCP

60,000

Introduction of Filling
Material

Shear stress distribution

 If the shear stress is too
high, it could lead to
residual stress, excessive
warpage, painting
problemetc
 Normally, high shear stress
occurs at gates and thin
cavities.

Max. allowable shear stress(Mpa)

ABS

0.30

PP

0.25

PS

0.25

HIPS

0.30

PA6

0.50

PA66

0.50

PBT

0.40

PET

0.50

PC

0.50

PC/ABS

0.40

PMMA

0.40

POM

0.45

PPS

0.50

LCP

0.50

Introduction of Filling

Pressure history
 Pm: Pressure profile in the
metering zone of the injection
screw.
 Pn: Pressure profile at the
injection nozzle.
 Pg: Gate pressure profile at
the end of runner, that is the
pressure profile at the inlet of
the cavity.
 Pc: Pressure profile at cavity
end. Internal cavity pressure is
lower than gate pressure due
to the loss of pressure inside
the cavity.

Introduction of Filling

Filling stage
 tf-tf1: Flow control stage.
Polymer starts filling the
empty cavity; maintaining a
steady flow and the cavity
pressure increases gradually
 tf1-tp: Pressure control stage.
During the solidification of
molten polymers, cavity
pressure increase quickly
and plastic flow begin to
reduce its volume. Mold
filling pressure is transferred
to the end of the cavity.

Introduction of Filling

Pressure distribution (single cavity)

 Evaluate pressure drop condition
while designing the multiple gating
system.
 Find out the dominant gate
location (lower pressure drop one)
and eliminate/modify unnecessary
gates (higher pressure drop, lower
flow).

Flow mark

Lower effective pressure

due to higher pressure
drop in runner

Dominant gate
higher effective
pressure due to
lower pressure
drop runner

Introduction of Filling

Pressure distribution (multiple cavities)

 While evaluating molds with
multiple cavities, find out if there
exist uniform pressure
distribution at each gate of mold
cavity and interior of cavity in
order to achieve the flow
balance.

Unbalanced runner system

P1

Cavities that may be

incompletely filled

P2

Cavities that are

overpacked

P1>P2>P3

P3

Need more from simulation?

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 A complete suite of analysis tools for tool designer, it provides

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Runner analysis
Cooling analysis
Warpage analysis
Fiber orientation analysis
Multiple-component molding
Extensive parallel computing

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