With the recent release of
Inventor 2010, there are so many new features to talk about.
One of the key features added is the Tooling and Mold
Design. Powered by Autodesk Moldflow plastic flow analysis
tools, Inventor can help to optimize your design for
moldability and minimize the number of mold iterations.
Even after rapid prototyping,
there are so many things to consider before building the
first mold. Things like part shrinkage, material flow rates,
gate locations, runner locations, cooling and heating
locations and process parameters. The product design
cycle-tool and mold design creates a complex set of relating
parameters. Change of a single mold variable can
significantly alter the mold outcome which can sometimes
cause a significant amount of lost time and money.
Usually, product quality and
price depend upon a thorough understanding of the design
parameters which are interrelated. For a new product, don't
wait for the first shot at the molding machine to find
molding shortcomings.
One way to find the
shortcomings is to use the part fill analysis. This
determines the following things:
- Will the injection molding process produce parts of
acceptable quality?
- Which material should be used?
- What are the optimal process settings?
- How many gate locations are required and how will
this affect mold filling?
- Where are the potential defects such as weld lines
and air traps?
A fill analysis predicts the
thermoplastic polymer flow inside the mold during the
filling phase. The analysis calculates a flow front that
grows through the part incrementally from the injection
location, continuing until the velocity pressure switch-over
point has been reached. The results of the fill analysis are
calculated on four laminates through the thickness, and
symmetrical cooling boundary conditions are assumed.
After determining the part,
material and at least one gate, you are ready to do the fill
analysis.
1. In the Core/Cavity tab,
click Part Fill Analysis. The Part Fill Analysis dialog
appears.
2. Click Start to begin the
analysis. The Information dialog appears. Select "Don't show
this again" to run the analysis in the background.
3. When the analysis is
complete, a Results Summary dialog appears and the analysis
results are added to the Results node.
Included in the Results node
are great graphical analysis such as; the Fill time (Figure
1), Plastic flow, Confidence of fill (Figure 2), Quality
prediction (Figure 3), Air traps (Figure 4) and Weld lines
(Figure 5).
CAD/CAM/CAE
Solutions
