SOLIDWORKS Plastics

 The Injection Moulding Cycle

 Capabilities

FILL PACK COOL & WARP

o Fill Time o Hot and Cold Runners o Accurately simulate the

o Melt Temperature o Co-Injection Moulding conditions within the
o Mould Temperature o Multi-Shot Moulding mould.
o Injection Pressure o Insert Overmoulding o Fine tune temperatures,
Limit o Gas-Assist Moulding pressures & cooling
o In-mould Gravity o Plastic & Fibre Blends systems to produce the
Direction o Reaction Injection best possible product.
o Melt Flow Rate Moulding (RIM)
o Valve Gates
 Results Capabilities

FILL PACK COOL & WARP

o Fill Time o Birefringence o Part Cooling Time.

o Pressure at End of Fill o Fibre Orientation o Cycle Averaged
o Temperature at End of o Central Temperature at Temperature.
Fill End of Fill o Temperature at End of
o Flow Front o Average Temperature Cooling.
Temperature at End of Fill o Part Temperature at End
o Shear Stress o Shear Rate at End of of Cooling.
o Frozen Layer at End of Pack o Cycle Averaged Mould
Fill o Shear Stress at End of Temperature.
o Part Cooling Time Pack o Mould Temperature at
o Ease of Fill o Volumetric Shrinkage Cooling End.
o Velocity Vectors o Temperature at End of o Cycle Averaged Heat
o Weld Lines Cooling Transfer.
o Air Traps o Pressure at End of o Cycle Averaged Heat
o Sink Marks Pack Loading.
o Clamp Force o Temperature at End of o Sink Mark Profile given
o Cycle Time Pack Part Deformation
o Shear Stress o In-Mould Residual Stress
o Bulk Temperature at o Quenching Thermal
End of Pack Stress
o Residual Stress at o Demoulding First
Start of Pack Principal Stress
o Deformation Animations

- Don’t forget the Plastics Results Advisor

TOP TIPS – Functions

 Creating Custom Materials

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 don’t have a value or miss
one accidentally you will have something similar as a point of reference.

 Customising the Report Generator

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 don’t delete slides or
change the order.

 Configuration Integration
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.

 Plastics Batch Manager

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.
TOP TIPS – FAQ’s

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).
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’. Don’t 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 mould’s 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 it’s best to switch to Cooling time and
increase the value.

Q. Why can’t 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: