Date | 2016/09/01

CALIN Technology Eliminated Weld Lines on a Projector Lens Using Moldex3D

Customer Profile

Customer: CALIN Technology Country: Taiwan Industry: Optical Solution:  Moldex3D Advanced & Optics Module

Incorporated in 2002, CALIN’s high-ranking executives possess years of work experience and expertise. They provide all types of optical lenses and all customized development services. The main products of the company include automotive camera, security camera lens, projector lens, digital camera lens, DSLR, industrial lenses, and medical endoscopy lens. CALIN has continuously oriented the high quality in optical lens and enhanced the core technologies to meet all the needs of customers. (Source: http://www.calin.com.tw/eng/index.php ) 

Executive Summary

CALIN Technology applied Moldex3D to predict the hesitation and weld lines on their projector lens product. Through the simulation analysis, CALIN Technology was able to adjust and optimize the process parameters prior to real manufacturing to solve the weld line problem and improve product shrinkage.

Challenges

• Obvious weld lines
• To reduce cycle time
• Uniform residual stress

Solutions

Utilizing Moldex3D Advanced to obtain optimum process settings in order to successfully resolve the product’s problem

Benefits

• Eliminated weld lines
• Achieved 98% yield rate
• Reduced mold trials and costs

Case Study

The objective of this case is to solve the weld line issue and reduce the cycle time of a projector lens product (Fig. 1). CALIN Technology decided to create overflow region and conformal cooling channels in order to achieve the goal. Although there are various methods to design the overflow zone and conformal channels, most of them would cost substantial mold production fees and time. Therefore, CALIN Technology utilized Moldex3D to simulate the molding scenario of the original design, overflow design, and conformal cooling channel design before an actual molding in hopes of achieving the most ideal design without excessive production cost.

Fig. 1 The projector lens product in this case

Through the simulation results, CALIN Technology found out that in traditional injection molding, weld lines would occur in the main region of the part and it might cause potential risks of product deformation. Furthermore, this molding defect would have a direct negative impact on the product’s functionality and physical appearance. Thus, CALIN Technology added an overflow region in the cavity in order to solve the weld line problem. According to Moldex3D simulation results of the revised design, the weld lines disappear in the obvious regions (Fig. 2).

Next, to reduce the cycle time, CALIN Technology proposed using conformal cooling channel designs (Fig. 3). Through Moldex3D simulation results, the cycle time of revised designs does not show a significant improvement compared with the original design (Fig. 4), so there is no need to change the design of cooling channels.

Fig. 2 The weld line issue in the revised design with an overflow region has been improved

Fig. 3 CALIN Technology proposed using conformal cooling channel designs to reduce the cycle time

Fig. 4 The cycle time of revised designs does not show a significant improvement compared with the original design

Results

Through Moldex3D analyses, CALIN Technology could clearly understand the filling behaviors and predict weld line locations before an actual production. The accuracy of Moldex3D simulation analyses were also validated by the actual mold-trial results (Fig. 5). In the end, CALIN Technology was able to successfully solve the manufacturing issues and optimize their product and mold designs.

Fig. 5 Moldex3D’s simulation results (right) of the weld line location on the original design is validated by the actual molding results (left)

Moldex3D would love to invite you to this one-on-one meeting with leading Taiwanese companies from injection molding field, at Hall 13 A94.

The event is designed to bring together suppliers and professionals from injection molding industry and help you find your partner company. The meetings will take place at Moldex3D booth VIP room from the first day of the show (October 19) throughout the following 4 days.

For more details on the companies taking part in this project please refer to the below table. The number of participants is limited! Register now for your VIP meeting with the chosen supplier, by filling in the application form here.

Venue

K show, Moldex3D Booth meeting room, Hall 13 A94, Messe Düsseldorf

Contact

For more information on the listed companies please contact lilyyang@moldex3d.com.
We wish you fruitful meeting and cooperation!

Registration

[contact-form-7]

Webinar: Conformal Cooling and Simulation

10:00 AM CET/ 2:30 PM IST | November 9, 2016

Conformal cooling of injection molds is a game changer in the molding industry. Typical cycle reductions of 20 to 40 percent can be realized, lower reject rates are accomplished because of uniform cooling and stronger parts are achieved through lower molded-in stress. However, compared to other conventional cooling techniques, conformal cooling channel design is an intricate and complicated matter, and mold inserts used in conformal cooling system are more costly. Therefore, designing and verifying an effective conformal cooling system have been critical for its users.

In this webinar, we will introduce how CAE simulation software can successfully assist in evaluating the effectiveness of cooling layout designs and verify potential design problems at early stage. For example, physical properties such as pressure, temperature, and flow velocity can be presented in three dimensional inside cooling channels. Users can detect potential design problems based on analysis results. In addition, through cooling time prediction, users will perceive the effect of cycle time on a cooling system.

Registration

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Webinar: Controlling Part Quality and Lowering Production Costs with Conformal Cooling Channels

2:30-3:00 PM EST | November 11, 2016

Lowering production costs and maintaining part quality is of the highest importance to any company. In this regard, a lot of interest is being placed on using conformal cooling circuits in the mold. This webinar presents case studies on how effective conformal cooling circuits have been proven to be.

*This webinar is co-hosted  by 　

Registration

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Webinar: Improving Structural Performance of Parts through Moldex3D FEA Interface

2:30-3:00 PM EST | December 2, 2016

Injection molding processes are rapidly displacing conventional metal machining and casting processes for high volume manufacturing. This has been enabled by advances in material and process technologies, including high performance polymers, fiber reinforcement, and metal injection molding. A fiber-reinforced injection-molded part can have performance equivalent or superior to a metal part, but with less weight and lower cost. Realizing these benefits requires a different design process than a machined or cast part. Innova Engineering has a long history of delivering design solutions for fiber-reinforced injection-molded parts for our customers. In this webinar, Innova will describe a typical design process to replace a metal part with a fiber-reinforced injection-molded one and the key role that Moldex3D, MSC Marc and Digimat play in that process.

*This webinar is co-hosted  by 　

Registration

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Webinar: Simulating Co-Injection and Bi-Injection Molding in Moldex3D

2:30-3:00 PM EST | December 16, 2016

Multi-component molding (MCM) is one of the most widely used processes for producing products that require two or more colors/materials. However, due to its complicated nature and the unclear physical mechanism, a conventional trial-and-error method cannot catch crucial factors effectively. In this webinar, we will demonstrate how Moldex3D can help you accurately analyze the interaction behavior of different components and further optimize product design.

Registration

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Hsinchu, Taiwan– September 30, 2016– CoreTech System (Moldex3D), the global leading provider of plastic injection molding simulation solutions, today announced the winners of the 4^th Global Innovation Talent Award under the theme of “Tell Us Your #Moldex3DStory.” This global competition recognizes Moldex3D customers that best demonstrate Moldex3D solutions’ values and offerings to the overall manufacturing process and outcome.

“The role of mold filling simulation in injection molding process is nothing short of a doctor’s role,” said Andy Chen, Tooling Department engineer at Foxlink Image Technology; “Moldex3D enables mold designers to correctly diagnose potential molding problems so as to implement the right solutions.” His team was selected as the Global Grand Prize winner for sharing the story about applying Moldex3D simulation solutions in the development process of four scanner components, in which Moldex3D helped predict potential short shots in a scanner cover, and guided Foxlink to identify fiber orientation as the leading cause of the warpage in an existing mold so as to implement appropriate countermeasure. This story has demonstrated the power of virtual simulation to provide not only analysis data but actionable insights to ensure the best production outcomes. Other regional winning entries also showcased successful deployment of Moldex3D solutions to tackle complex moldmaking challenges, ranging from solving flow marks in sport watch straps to preventing core shift during the manufacture of a screwdriver handle.

“Our customers’ success has always been the main driving force behind Moldex3D’s continuous innovations and breakthroughs,” said RY Chang, CEO of CoreTech System (Moldex3D). “We are excited and proud to see that the value of Moldex3D simulation has been reflected in the success of our customers, and we are looking forward to working with our customers to elevate our simulation capabilities to the next level.”

To view the winning entries from this year’s contest, visit: http://www.moldex3d.com/en/2016-moldex3d-global-innovation-talent-award-winners

Here’s the complete list of winners: 

Global Grand Prize: Foxlink Image Technology Co., Ltd.
Andy Chen, Steven Chang, Ian Weng, Shark Hsu, Benson Tsai
“Using Moldex3D in Designing Scanner Part Components”

Americas Region
First Prize: Stanley Black & Decker
Bob Scillia, William Lai,  Frank Tsai
“Predicting Tooling Problems before Production”

Second Prize: Extreme Tool and Engineering
Anthony Denny, Eldon Leidich
“Moldex3D’s Role in Advanced Manufacturing at Extreme”

Third Prize: Stanley Engineered Fastening
Naga V Subhash Battini, Ryan Ostach
“Mold Flow Filling Study”

EMEA Region
First Prize: Dr. Schneider
Przemyslaw Narowski
“Moldex3D – The New Quality in Design of Car Interiors in Dr. Schneider Automotive” 

Second Prize: University of Kassel
Mike Tromm
“Simulation of High Pressure Foam Injection Molding with Local Core-back”

Third Prize: Erteco
Hampus Johansson
“Reinforcement of Plastic Boat Propeller with Carbon Fibre Tape” 

Honorable Mention: Slovak University of Technology– Faculty of Materials Science and Technology
Miroslav Košík
“Application of Moldex3D in Reduction of Injection Moulded Part Warpage using Advanced Gas Assisted Injection Moulding”

Greater China Region
First Prize: TYC Brother Industrial Co., Ltd.
Nan-Jung Huang
“CAE Simulation Helps to Eliminate Air Traps in Multi-shot Molded Automotive Light Covers”

Second Prize: TomTom and HSUHTA ENTERPRISE Co., Ltd.
Enoch Chen
“Use of Moldex3D to Solve Flow Marks in Watch Straps”

Third Prize: Zeng Hsing Industrial Co. Ltd.
Hsin-Hao Lin, Yung-Tse Cheng, Chun-Ju Chen, Shu-Yi Kuo, Chia-Hao Wu, Chung-Yao Hung
“Leading Sewing Machine Manufacturer Uses Moldex3D to Minimize Deformation” 

Honorable Mention: Beijing University of Chemical Technology
Hai-Chao Liu
“Moldex3D Helped Ensure the Bottle Cap Achieved Dimensional Accuracy”

Honorable Mention: GIZMO Plastics Tech. Co., Ltd.
Feng-Yi Yen, Yi-Da Huang, Ming-Hsien Hung, Shih-Wei Tseng
“Moldex3D Simulation Helps Reduce Warpage in an Outboard Fuel Filter Part”

Honorable Mention: Audix Corporation
Shih-Tsun Huang, Chun-Lai Zhang, Zhao-Fu Ding, Yao Yao
“Using Moldex3D to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Conformal Cooling in Resolving Sprue Cooling Problem”

Asia Pacific Region
First Prize: KOPLA
Daekyung Kim, Yong-gil Lee, Seonhee An, Haekook Sung
“Cooling Time Reduction for Thermostat Housing”

Second Prize: Berry Plastics
Kannan Ramakrishnan, Kiran D’Silva
“Berry Plastics Achieves Cost Savings through Injection Molding Simulation”

About CoreTech System (Moldex3D)
CoreTech System Co., Ltd. (Moldex3D) has been providing the professional CAE analysis solution “Moldex” series for the plastic injection molding industry since 1995, and the current product “Moldex3D” is marketed worldwide. Committed to providing advanced technologies and solutions to meet industrial demands, CoreTech System has extended its sales and service network to provide local, immediate, and professional service. CoreTech System presents innovative technology, which helps customers troubleshoot from product design to development, optimize design patterns, shorten time-to-market, and maximize product return on investment (ROI). More information can be found at www.moldex3d.com.

Date | 2016/10/3

In recent years, hot runner systems are commonly used in plastic injection molding since it can help manufacture plastic parts quicker and bring in more profits. Coupling with multi-cavity mold designs at the same time, applying hot runner systems can further help reduce more energy and material consumptions in the production. Although the unit cost of a hot runner system mold is more costly than a conventional cold-runner mold, a hot runner system is surely more cost-efficient in terms of return-on-investment (ROI) over the long run. Hot runner systems are widely applied in the manufacturing process especially in mass-produced products such as bottle caps, screw caps or cosmetics containers. On top of that, manufacturers will always try to push and increase more nozzle drops in the design, sometimes to a hundred-cavity mold to accelerate the production to meet further demands. Therefore, 3D flow analysis has been a common practice in the industry to verify the hot runner system at the design phase for shear heating study and flow imbalance prediction. Nevertheless, using the conventional simulation approach cannot efficiently deliver analysis results on time because the simulation mesh model of a multi-cavity design is much bigger than a single cavity design which in return will require more efforts in obtaining the analysis results.  Therefore, other methods like applying symmetry settings or manually creating a hybrid mesh are used to reduce the mesh elements which require less CPU time and memory. However, using these methods will not speed up the analysis time significantly especially if we are dealing with a high-cavitation mold design for example, more than 64 cavities.

Moldex3D has been commonly adopted in hot runner design verifications, including runner diameter, channel length, flow balance, pressure drop and residence time. For advanced hot runner applications, Moldex3D’s Advanced Hot Runner (AHR) module can help hot runner suppliers and users for a more in-depth analysis. To reduce the simulation time drastically, an alternative option – Hot Runner Steady (HRS) Analysis (Fig. 1) is now available in the latest Moldex3D’s version, R14. HRS Analysis can speed up the simulation time up to 20 times faster than a conventional analysis.

Fig. 1 Hot Runner Steady Analysis

Moldex3D’s solver will conduct a HRS Analysis based on the hot runner layout and the flow rate of each gate and other related information can be attained (Fig. 2) as a valuable reference for users to understand the flow behaviors. Through HRS analysis, users are able to detect the potential flow imbalance issue at the early design stage so that they can make appropriate design adjustments to optimize all aspects of their hot runner design.

Fig. 2 Hot Runner Steady Analysis Result

Fig. 3 shows an example of 8-nozzle hot runner system. When using HRS Analysis, the required CPU time for getting a hot runner analysis result is only 8 minutes as opposed to other general filling analysis which will take up to 2.6 hours. In Table 1, the analysis time for HRS Analysis is 20 times faster than the Filling Analysis and, the pressure drop (39.90 MPa) in HRS Analysis is very close to the Filling Analysis (39.72 MPa). The difference is less than 1 MPa.

Fig. 3 A 8-nozzle hot runner case

Analysis Type	Filling	Hot Runner Steady
Total Element Number (Be considered in computing process)	4,989,856 (Hot Runner+ 8-Cavity)	1,024,320 (Hot Runner only)
Analysis Time	157 min	8 min
Hot Runner Pressure Drop
	39.72 MPa	39.90 MPa

Table 1 Element count and CPU time comparison between Filling and HRS Analysis

In summary, with HRS Analysis, users can not only benefit from Moldex3D’s true 3D simulation accuracy but also significantly reduce the computing process (CPU) time. It raises the possibility of including more design changes in limited CAE simulation time in order to help users speed up their hot runner system development time and ultimately leads to major cost savings on mold-reworks and material use.

CoreTech System (Moldex3D) will be speaking at this year’s SPE TPO Automotive Engineered Polyolefins Conference on how plastic injection molding simulation technology can help improve product quality and optimize manufacturing processes for the automotive industry. This event will bring together over 500 key industry decision attendees from 4 continents and 20 countries. Come join us for our speaking sessions to explore the latest developments in simulation-driven solutions! For more information, please visit: http://auto-tpo.com/

Moldex3D Speaking Sessions

• Date: Tuesday, October 4, 2016
• Time: 11:45 AM
• Topic: How to Optimize Compression Molding Process Parameters with Simulation Tools
• Speaker: Adam Miller

• Date: Tuesday, October 4, 2016
• Time: 3:00 PM
• Topic: How to Improve Product Quality with the Latest Process Simulation
• Speaker: Anthony Yang

About SPE TPO

Since 1998, the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE®), leading global OEMs and Tier Suppliers, as well as the TPO supply chain have pooled their resources to create the SPE Automotive TPO Global Conference, a dynamic, interactive, and cost-effective learning experience. The show highlights the importance of rigid and flexible polyolefins (TPOs) as well as a growing range of thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) and thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs) throughout the automobile and in other forms of ground transportation. The event has become the world leading automotive engineered polyolefins forum and typically draws over 600 key decision makers and some of the world’s foremost authorities on transportation polyolefin applications, economics, and market trends. As such, it provides excellent networking opportunities with key members of the automotive TPO, TPE, & TPV supply chain, and the opportunity to learn about designing lighter, less costly automotive components using the latest technologies and applications for these versatile materials.

Date | 2016/10/3

Moldex3D R14.0 provides Hot Runner Steady (HRS) analysis designed for hot runner system simulations. It supports a quick steady state analysis for a complex hot runner system in order to save time and speed up the design process. HRS Analysis can significantly save the simulation time spent for a high cavitation hot runner mold design. It can also help users efficiently obtain the balance ratio of the hot runner layout design, and enhance the prediction capability for the cycle-by-cycle viscous heating to attain a more realistic hot runner temperature distribution.

In the texts below, two step-by-step HRS analysis examples will be given:

1. Using HRS Analysis to Optimize the Hot Runner Design without Simulating the Cavity Filling

HRS analysis can help users optimize their hot runner design with multi-cavity models by simulating the filling behavior in the hot runner channels to attain information like flow rate and balance ratio. Without simulating the cavity filling, HRS Analysis facilitates greater iteration calculation efficiency and provides a much faster solution for hot runner design optimization.

Step 1. Create an Injection Molding Project with a mesh model including at least melt entrances, cavities, and hot runners. Although HRS analysis neglects the cavities during calculation, users still have to include them in the mesh model.

Note: License for the Advanced Hot Runner module is required to set up Hot Runner Steady function in Computation Parameter and Analysis Sequence.

Step 2. Setup HRS Analysis by specifying the flow rate from the inlet, converge criteria for relative error, and pressure on hot runner gates under Hot Runner Steady tab in Computation Parameter.

Note: In the CAE mode, the default value of the flow rate from the inlet is defined as the cavity volume divided by the filling time. In the machine mode,  the default value of the flow rate from the inlet is defined as the cavity volume divided by the stroke time.

Note: The pressure on hot runner gates indicates the outlet resistance of each gate (0 MPa as default). Users are advised to run a simulation on one single cavity mold (only with a melt entrance but without a runner system) prior to HRS Analysis. It will provide a better estimation of the pressure at the hot runner outlets in HRS analysis (without cavities) and still save the time of simulating all cavities along with hot runner systems.

Step 3. Select HRS only in Analysis sequence setting and run the simulation.

Step 4. Check the flow rate shown at the tip of each hot runner gate and further check the prediction of the runner balance ratio in HRS log file. According to these two referenced results, users can then modify the geometry of the hot runner layout, such as changing the hot runner diameters or lengths in particular regions in order to attain a balanced flow if needed.

Note:  HRS analysis provides several analysis results, but the key results are the flow rates and the runner balance ratio predictions.

Step 5. Repeat Step 1-4 if the hot runner design is modified.

Gate contribution		Pressure distribution

2. Running Filling Analysis after HRS Analysis to Attain More Realistic Initial Hot Runner Conditions

In contrast to Filling analysis, HRS analysis takes the accumulated shear heating effect after several cycles (until it becomes steady) into account, including the non-uniform or non-symmetric temperature distribution along the hot runner systems. As a result, if the Filling analysis is performed after HRS, it will have a better assumption of the initial hot runner conditions; thus, a more accurate filling prediction can be attained.

The procedure to perform this simulation is as follows:

Step 1. Re-do Step 1 and 2 in the previous section (we use a different model this time).

Step 2. Set the analysis sequence: Run HRS analysis first, and then Filling Analysis.

Note: This sequence is not in the default Analysis Sequence setting, but the users can customize it as shown below:

Step 3. Check out the Filling analysis results.

Note: By comparing the temperature and the melt front time results as well as the filling logfiles, users can clearly observe the advantages of applying HRS analysis prior to Filling analysis.

Filling Analysis		HRS-Filling Analysis
Filling Log File (showing if it takes initial hot runner condition from HRS)
Initial Filling Temperature
The initial hot runner temperature is obviously uniform and symmetric		The initial hot runner temperature is obviously non-uniform and non-symmetric
Filling Temperature at End of Filling (EOF)
Melt Front Time
The filling pattern looks quite balance		Imbalanced filling pattern is detected with the proper initial hot runner temperature

Date | 2016/10/04

Linear AMS Utilizes Moldex3D Conformal Cooling Analysis to Reduce 69% Cooling Time]

Customer Profile

Customer: Linear AMS Country: USA Industry: Mold Making Solution: Moldex3D eDesign

Linear Mold& Engineering was founded in 2003. By pushing the limits to develop new uses, testing new materials, and creating new production processes for their customers, Linear helped establish an emerging market for delivering precision tooling, molding and industrial parts. In 2015, global engineering industry leader Moog, Inc. purchased controlling interest in Linear, rebranding the company to Linear AMS highlighting their additive manufacturing solutions capabilities, but maintaining operations as a separate company.  (Source: http://www.linearams.com/)

Executive Summary

In plastic injection molding, the cooling process is the longest portion, often prolonging the total cycle time. In the supply and demand world, the ability to produce parts faster and more efficiently is always the top priority for the manufacturers. However, conventionally drilled cooling lines in molding tools have many limitations in shortening the cycle time. In order to solve this present issue, Linear AMS decided to propose a new conformal cooling system and utilized Moldex3D to validate the design. In the end, they successfully reduced the cooling cycle and had more confidence while helping their customers solve cooling issues.

Challenges

• Limitations of conventional cooling design resulted in unacceptable, long cooling times
• Designing an effective conformal cooling system to reduce cooling time

Solutions

Utilizing Moldex3D eDesign to design the optimum conformal cooling layout in order to successfully reduce the cooling portion of the cycle time

Benefits

• Reduced cooling time by 69%
• Developed a competitive advantage in the market

Case Study

This case features a rifle stock arm brace part. Linear AMS’ long term objective is to design a conformal cooling system to assist customers to reduce cycle times. This project’s specific objectives primarily focused on reducing the cooling portion of the cycle time.

First of all, they needed to produce a higher volume of parts, but they were not able to add additional molds and presses into the process. The fill/pack process had been successful prior to Moldex3D’s involvement, so warpage was not an issue. When they utilized Moldex3D to analyze the conventional cooling process (Fig. 1), they found serious heat accumulation in the middle area as well as the shaft (Fig. 2).

Fig. 1 Original Cooling Channel Design

Fig. 2 The cooling analysis of the original cooling channel design. The result indicates heat accumulation in the middle area as well as the shaft.

In order to improve the cooling time, they altered the cooling system that can better conform to the shape of the part (Fig. 3). The cooling in the middle area as well as the shaft was completed and in addition to those areas, new cooling was applied to the outer sides as well.  After the design changes, Linear AMS used Moldex3D eDesign to simulate the revised cooling design. The analysis results of the modified cooling channel design showed a much more uniform temperature distribution (Fig. 4) compared to the original design.

Fig. 3 The revised cooling channel design

Fig. 4 The analysis results of the revised cooling channel design. The temperature distribution is much more uniform.

As a result, Moldex3D has successfully reduced the cycle time from 112 seconds to 35 seconds. This allowed the customer to produce a higher volume of parts without making additional molds and using additional presses.

Fig. 5 The breakdown of savings in this case: the reduction in the cooling cycle has translated to 69% in the manufacture cost.

Results

The benefit of using Moldex3D is making it possible to present the time savings prediction to the customer. From their experience with Moldex3D, Linear AMS has found that the cooling predictions are surprisingly accurate and they now can confidently tell their customers how they can better help them reduce their cycle times (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6 The difference a savings of 77 seconds per shot can make over the course of a year

Date | 2016/09/01

CALIN Technology Eliminated Weld Lines on a Projector Lens Using Moldex3D

 View PDF Version

Customer Profile

Customer: CALIN Technology Country: Taiwan Industry: Optical Solution:  Moldex3D Advanced & Optics Module

Incorporated in 2002, CALIN’s high-ranking executives possess years of work experience and expertise. They provide all types of optical lenses and all customized development services. The main products of the company include automotive camera, security camera lens, projector lens, digital camera lens, DSLR, industrial lenses, and medical endoscopy lens. CALIN has continuously oriented the high quality in optical lens and enhanced the core technologies to meet all the needs of customers. (Source: http://www.calin.com.tw/eng/index.php ) 

Executive Summary

CALIN Technology applied Moldex3D to predict the hesitation and weld lines on their projector lens product. Through the simulation analysis, CALIN Technology was able to adjust and optimize the process parameters prior to real manufacturing to solve the weld line problem and improve product shrinkage.

Challenges

• Obvious weld lines
• To reduce cycle time
• Uniform residual stress

Solutions

Utilizing Moldex3D Advanced to obtain optimum process settings in order to successfully resolve the product’s problem

Benefits

• Eliminated weld lines
• Achieved 98% yield rate
• Reduced mold trials and costs

Case Study

The objective of this case is to solve the weld line issue and reduce the cycle time of a projector lens product (Fig. 1). CALIN Technology decided to create overflow region and conformal cooling channels in order to achieve the goal. Although there are various methods to design the overflow zone and conformal channels, most of them would cost substantial mold production fees and time. Therefore, CALIN Technology utilized Moldex3D to simulate the molding scenario of the original design, overflow design, and conformal cooling channel design before an actual molding in hopes of achieving the most ideal design without excessive production cost.

Fig. 1 The projector lens product in this case

Through the simulation results, CALIN Technology found out that in traditional injection molding, weld lines would occur in the main region of the part and it might cause potential risks of product deformation. Furthermore, this molding defect would have a direct negative impact on the product’s functionality and physical appearance. Thus, CALIN Technology added an overflow region in the cavity in order to solve the weld line problem. According to Moldex3D simulation results of the revised design, the weld lines disappear in the obvious regions (Fig. 2).

Next, to reduce the cycle time, CALIN Technology proposed using conformal cooling channel designs (Fig. 3). Through Moldex3D simulation results, the cycle time of revised designs does not show a significant improvement compared with the original design (Fig. 4), so there is no need to change the design of cooling channels.

Fig. 2 The weld line issue in the revised design with an overflow region has been improved

Fig. 3 CALIN Technology proposed using conformal cooling channel designs to reduce the cycle time

Fig. 4 The cycle time of revised designs does not show a significant improvement compared with the original design

Results

Through Moldex3D analyses, CALIN Technology could clearly understand the filling behaviors and predict weld line locations before an actual production. The accuracy of Moldex3D simulation analyses were also validated by the actual mold-trial results (Fig. 5). In the end, CALIN Technology was able to successfully solve the manufacturing issues and optimize their product and mold designs.

Fig. 5 Moldex3D’s simulation results (right) of the weld line location on the original design is validated by the actual molding results (left)

Date | 2016/08/31

Having too many complicated and unnecessary features in the original geometry design may lead to a poor-quality mesh or even mesh distortion in the pre-processing stage. Besides, higher density mesh is required to describe these complicated features and the increased mesh elements will lead to a longer computation time.

Moldex3D CADdoctor can simplify complex or unnecessary geometric features like fillets and steps. In this section, we are going to introduce how to simplify common features: Fillet/Chamfer, Step and Mergeable Faces.

Step 1: After the model is imported, switch the Work panel from PDQ to Simplification.

Step 2: The simplification tab lists all the features that CADdoctor can detect. Users will select, detect, and treat each specific feature separately. For example, click on Fillet, click Check All Fillets and use Zoom current target to locate the features. Fillets are small faces near the edges and can cause increased count or low quality in mesh elements during mesh generation.

Step 3: Following the detected results, click Remove All/Remove Fillets to remove all features at once or one by one. Users can also uncheck the feature, modify the threshold, or use other associated tools.

Step 4: Users can then continue the simplification with another feature, like Step and Mergeable Faces, before exporting the geometric model to the pre-processor:

• Step: Step Feature will generate narrow faces and cause defects when meshing. To eliminate steps, right click Step under the main menu and modify the threshold value. Click Check All Steps   under the list to find all steps within threshold. Use  and other navigation tools to zoom current target and click Remove Steps  below and choose a face near the step to fit.

• Mergeable Faces: The small faces on the geometry will lead to an increased count or low aspect ratio mesh. To avoid this situation, right click Mergeable Faces under the main menu and set a threshold value to detect faces to merge. After the detection, use the navigation tools and Merge Faces to merge faces one by one or Merge All Mergeable Faces to merge all detected faces at once.

Note: To continue the simplification, the same workflow applies to other features with different tools provided.

Hsinchu, Taiwan– October 17, 2016 –CoreTech System (Moldex3D), the global leading provider of plastic injection molding simulation solutions, today announced the donation of the latest release of Moldex3D R14 software, valued at $3 million USD, to two of the most reputable universities in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education (HCMUTE) and Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT).

HCMUTE and HCMUT are top-ranking schools in Vietnam and both share an important role in educating the next generation of plastic engineers and product designers for the country. With this donation, students and faculty members at these two schools will have unprecedented access to the world’s leading CAE software to assist their study and research in the plastic engineering field.

In addition to the software donation, Moldex3D will provide hands-on software trainings and help develop viable CAE curriculum that best suited for the schools. Moldex3D software certification program will also be available on campus in both schools.

Prof. Nguyen Truong Thinh, Dean of Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at HCMUTE said the software donation is critical to the school. “Moldex3D is a true solution provider for plastic injection molding industry. This gift will not only enable us to add an essential yet practical segment to our curriculum but also will give our students the same access to the state-of-the-art software that is being utilized by many professionals working in the plastic design and molding industry.”

“We are truly thankful for this generous gift donated by Moldex3D. It is our school’s core mission to provide relevant education to our students and make sure all our graduates are equipped with skillful knowledge and training to be more competitive in the future job market. With the addition of CAE simulation abilities – thanks to Moldex3D’s donation, we are further preparing our graduates to be ready for the global trend of simulation-driven design concept,” said Prof. Mai Thanh Phong, Vice Rector for R&D and External Affairs of HCMUT.

According to Mr. Allen Peng, Managing Director – Asia Pacific of CoreTech System (Moldex3D), “We are very pleased with this opportunity to partner with two of the most prestigious universities in Vietnam. These significant partnerships reinforce our commitment to assisting the academic world in nurturing new blood for the industry and inspire more innovations by offering our state-of-the-art simulation technologies and resources.”

Both schools, HCMUTE and HCMUT have been planning to build a long-term relationship with Moldex3D. Currently, Moldex3D and the schools are in extensive discussions to develop more in-depth collaborations and are proactively moving the partnerships forward.

The software donation ceremony at HCMUTE (left) and HCMUT (right)

About Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education (HCMUTE)
Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education (HCMUTE) is currently listed as one of the top 10 universities in Vietnam and also a member in the top group of Southeast Asia universities.
This is a public university located in Thu Duc District, about 10 km north-east from downtown Ho Chi Minh City. This university offers bachelor’s and associate degree to prospective lecturers in other technical institutions. The university also conducts technical research and vocational training, in addition to educational cooperation with foreign universities. (Source: Wikipedia)

About Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT)
Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT) is a member of Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City is the flagship university in technology teaching and research activities in Vietnam.
HCMUT is a center of technology – industry and management training.
Up to May 2005, HCMUT has 11 faculties, 14 research and development (R&D) centers, 4 training centers, 10 functioning offices and one joint-stock company. During the past 30 years since Vietnam’s unification, 45,000 engineers and Bachelors have graduated from HCMUT. Up to now, HCMUT have trained Bachelors of Science, more than 7,000 Masters and 120 Doctors. (Source: Wikipedia) 

About CoreTech System (Moldex3D)
CoreTech System Co., Ltd. (Moldex3D) has been providing the professional CAE analysis solution “Moldex” series for the plastic injection molding industry since 1995, and the current product “Moldex3D” is marketed worldwide. Committed to providing advanced technologies and solutions to meet industrial demands, CoreTech System has extended its sales and service network to provide local, immediate, and professional service. CoreTech System presents innovative technology, which helps customers troubleshoot from product design to development, optimize design patterns, shorten time-to-market, and maximize product return on investment (ROI). More information can be found at www.moldex3d.com.

Moldex3D is a True 3D simulation software for injection molding. This course is designed to help users understand the benefits of using Moldex3D to achieve good part quality while reducing time and effort involved in mold trials. By the end of this course, users will be able to realize the importance of simulations as well as gain insight into how to set-up and launch a simulation in Moldex3D and interpret results. Register now >>

Agenda

Day 1- Nov 3, 2016

Day 2- Nov 4, 2016

Venue

Akron Polymer Training Center

Registration

To register or for more information about the course, please go to this page: http://www.uakron.edu/apts/training/courses/course-detail.dot?id=de573de7-579d-4598-b93a-97b487160de2

Thank you!

Date | 2016/10/26

Drag force induced by the viscous fluid flow in IC packaging process is the major cause of wire sweep which can further lead to a short circuit. Moldex3D IC Packaging module supports Drag Force Distribution analysis to visualize drag force applied on the wires so that clear and detailed wire sweep evaluation can be attained. This analysis is performed by Wire Sweep Solver and the analysis result is available under the Wire sweep results.

Step 1. Prepare an IC Packaging project. Under the Encapsulation tab in Computation Parameter, verify the Drag force model and modify it if necessary (Takaishi’s model is set as default).

Step 2. Launch Analysis sequence setting and customize the sequence as Filling (F) and Wire Sweep (WS). After confirming the settings of general IC and Wire Sweep analysis are both completed, click Run now to run Wire sweep analysis.

Step 3. After the Filling/Wire sweep analysis is done, Drag Force results will be available under Wire sweep results. By clicking X, Y, Z-Drag Force or Total Drag Force to display the distribution results, users can evaluate the wire sweep issue according to the force applied on the wires.

Date | 2016/10/28

When molding ultra-thin wall plastic parts, high injection speed is required to ensure a complete filling of the cavity.  However, high injection speed tends to cause high filling pressure which will result in the compression of the free volume of polymer chains; therefore, the viscosity will get higher and the flow resistance will increase. In the packing process, the melt is under the condition of high pressure and low shear rate, hence, the effect of pressure on viscosity will become more critical. Under the circumstances, the pressure distribution will affect the localized viscosity which will subsequently affect the distribution of packing pressure; therefore, the effect of pressure on viscosity in the molding process needs to be accurately quantified before conducting a simulation to make sure that the packing, shrinkage and warpage behaviors will be accurately simulated in the later stage.

In 2014, Moldex3D Material Characterization Laboratory attained an exclusive U.S. patent on pressure dependency viscosity model and CAE simulation. Through a capillary rheometer (Fig. 1), users can obtain the viscosity property data before running a CAE analysis. The changes of viscosity under different pressures can be measured (Fig. 2) by controlling the opening levels of the valve at the capillary’s exit and applying different back pressures.  Two common viscosity models are shown in Fig. 3. The “D” in Modified Cross Model (2) and “D3” in Modified Cross Model (3) are the pressure dependent coefficients. A higher D or D₃ value means the viscosity will dramatically increase with higher pressure. According to the viscosity values (Fig. 2) measured by the capillary rheometer under different pressures, the pressure dependent coefficients in the viscosity models as well as the extrapolated viscosity under zero pressure can be obtained. In addition, the theoretical model of pressure-viscosity effect can be referred to U.S. Patent 8,768,662 B2 (Ref. 1).

Fig. 1 The pressure chamber inside the capillary rheometer

Fig. 2 The plastic viscosity changes under different pressures

Fig. 3 The pressure dependent coefficients in two different viscosity models

In the following case, the product is a 1.0mm thin part made from PC. Fig. 4 is the comparison of injection pressure curves between the experiment and simulation results including the pressure independent and the pressure dependent viscosity respectively. Under low pressure, the effect of pressure is not obvious.  The injection pressure will be almost the same between the two simulations. However, as the pressure increases along with the filling time, the difference between the two simulations will become significant. As shown in the figure, the pressure dependent viscosity simulation result is more consistent with the experiment result.

Fig. 4 The injection pressure curves

Pressure-viscosity effect does not only affect the injection pressure but also the resistance of flow which will influence the pressure distribution in the mold at the packing stage. The warpage behavior will also be further affected.  As shown in Fig.5, considering the effect of pressure dependent viscosity, we can simulate the pressure distribution in the mold more accurately. Therefore, the simulation prediction for the warpage can be more consistent this way with the actual results.

Fig. 5 The comparison between the warpage prediction and the experiment result

Through the case above, we can understand the pressure-viscosity effect is critical to attaining an accurate warpage prediction, especially for simulating a high injection pressure molding. The viscosity measured by Moldex3D’s patented material characterization technology is able to help customers attain vital information that can enhance the accuracy and reliability of the simulation results accordingly.

If you are interested in Moldex3D Material Characterization Service, please contact us at chiaoliu@moldex3d.com or visit: http://www.moldex3d.com/en/support/professional-services/material-characterization

Ref. 1 Rong Yeu Chang, Chia Hsiang Hsu, Hsien Sen Chiu, Shih Po Sun, Chen Chieh Wang, Huan Chan Tseng, Predicting shrinkage of injection molded products with viscoelastic characteristic, U.S. Patent (2014)

The 16th edition of EMAF is back once again to display the groundbreaking solutions and technologies of the future, over four days.

EMAF is the largest event from the industrial sector that takes place in Portugal. The participation of the world’s leading machinery and equipment firms for the industry make it one of the main fairs in Europe.

Moldex3D’s local Portuguese representative, Simulflow will be exhibiting at this show. At the show, we will demonstrate our Moldex3D’s simulation capabilities, discuss the latest molding and CAE technologies, and explore possible solutions to help you design and manufacture better plastic parts.

Please come visit us at our booth-Hall 5, Booth F 37 and find out what we can do to help excel in today’s competitive plastic engineering world.

Venue

Exponor, Porto Region, Portugal

Contact

Mr. Sérgio Silva
Simulflow www.simulflow.pt
Tlm./MPhone: +351 968 371 806
Tel.: +351 244 825 859
Email: sergio.silva@simulflow.pt

Date | 2016/11/02

Audix Ensures Connector Size Accuracy and Eliminates Appearance Defects through Moldex3D

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Customer Profile

Customer: Audix Country: Taiwan Industry: Electronics Solution: Moldex3D Advanced Package

Audix is a semiconductor/electronic component distributor and expanded to certification and manufacturing. Manufacturing Group within Audix produces back light modules, relays, transformers, precision molds, plastic injection products, and also electroplating and automated machinery. A joint venture with Japanese enterprise located in Wujiang produces large-sized CCFL for TVs and monitors. (Source: www.audix.com/index_en.aspx) 

Executive Summary

This case features a high voltage connector made from PBT, a thermoplastic crystalline polymer ideal for connector applications. Because of its crystalline nature, serious shrinkage problems may occur. The challenge lies in the fact that the product size accuracy is highly demanded to meet the stringent electronic assembly requirement. Also, visible appearance defects such as air traps or short shots are not allowed. Therefore, how to simultaneously achieve the size accuracy and eliminate appearance defects is the main issue in this case. Audix used Moldex3D to analyze the volume shrinkage distribution and adjusted the thickness in the high volume shrinkage region. Audix also adjusted the gate size to eliminate air traps.  Audix was able to successfully solve the shrinkage problem and eliminate visible appearance defects in time to enable an effective workflow forproduct mass production.

Challenges

• Improve size accuracy
• Eliminate visible appearance defects

Solutions

Audix used Moldex3D to evaluate the part thickness  and gate design and was able to achieve the optimal product optimization in the early product development stage.

Benefits

• Improved size accuracy up to 77%
• Reduced mold trial cost and development time

Case Study

The purpose of this project is to solve the shrinkage problem around the holes on a high-voltage connector in order to meet the accuracy requirement (as shown in Fig. 1). The unexpected high shrinkage around the holes exceeded the pre-set tolerance. In the meantime, air traps would occur if Audix tried to improve the product shrinkage by slimming down the part thickness. Thus, how to achieve the size accuracy and eliminate the visible appearance defects  simultaneously would be the primary objective of this project.

Fig. 1 Shrinkage problem around the holes

After finding the high volume shrinkage region, Audix proposed a new gate design by increasing the gate number from a single gate to a doubled-gate design, one gate on each side (Fig. 2). The doubled-gate design reduced the maximum volume shrinkage from 17% to 14% according to Moldex3D’s simulation results.

Fig. 2 The original design (left) has only one gate. The gate number in the revised design (right) is increased to 2 gates.

Apart from the gate design, the part thickness was modified as well. Audix proposed two different thickness reduction designs. In Design 1, the part thickness at both core and cavity sides are reduced separately in order to meet the geometry aesthetic requirement. Fig. 3 highlights the reduced material locations and the volume shrinkage result. However, the volume shrinkage was not improved as much as expected in Design 1.

Fig. 3 Design 1: Reduce materials at the core side and cavity side

In Design 2, the part thickness is further reduced by modifying the slider based on Design 1 (Fig. 4). The simulation results showed that Design 2 can effectively decrease the volumetric shrinkage values at the specific regions. Besides, the volume shrinkage distribution became more uniform after the modification. However, this modification would cause the occurrence of air traps at the side wall (Fig. 5). Hence, Audix enlarged the gate size from 1 mm to 1.5 mm in an attempt to move the air trap location from the side wall to the parting surface.

Fig. 4 Design 2: Reduce materials from sides

Fig. 5 Air trap problem in Design 2

According to the simulation, Audix measured the length of the 4 holes at the top and the bottom of the part to evaluate the size accuracy after shrinkage. The simulation results showed that the length at bottom 1 and bottom 4 after shrinkage exceed the requirement in the original design. In Design 2, the accuracy successfully improved up to 77%, qualifying the part for production.

Audix had conducted a short shot test to verify Moldex3D’s reliability. As shown in Fig. 6, the melt front simulation accurately displays the flow behavior during injection. Furthermore, when Audix compared the actual mold trial with the simulation results of Design 2, they found that the air trap location is coincident with the simulation result as shown in Fig. 7.

Fig. 6 Melt front comparison between the experiment and simulation results

Fig. 7 Air trap comparison between the experiment and simulation results in Design 2

Results

With Moldex3D simulation, Audix could understand the flow behavior inside the mold and find potential problems before an actual molding. The accurate prediction helps Audix reduce the cost of mold trials and development time as well as improve the product quality.

Date | 2016/11/03

In order to manufacture high quality products more efficiently, using CAE software tools to assist product development has become a standard practice in today’s product design and manufacturing world. Identifying the optimal parameters quickly in order to run a productive CAE analysis and shorten the overall simulation time is the key to improve efficiency and accelerate time-to-market, especially for complex products that typically require longer computing time for CAE analysis.

SIMULIA’s Isight is a market-leading CAE solution for automate design exploration and optimization. Isight combines cross-disciplinary models and applications in a simulation process flow, automates their execution, explores the resulting design space, and identifies the optimal design parameters based on required constraints. Isight’s ability to manipulate and map parametric data between process steps and automate multiple simulations greatly improves efficiency, reduce manual errors, and accelerate the evaluation of product design alternatives.

Coupling Moldex3D’s analysis with Isight, users can enjoy the benefits of using these two software products; the task of finding the proper design parameters manually can be fully eliminated to avoid errors and the CAE analysis workflow can be done much more efficiently. In addition, Moldex3D offers the true 3-dimensional filling analysis and its best strength can be demonstrated in the accurate simulation of injection molded optical plastics, which the product precision is an absolute key factor to the success of the products.

In the following case study of an optical mouse, we will illustrate the benefits of using Isight with Moldex3D’s analysis to streamline the simulation process. The lens, mounted on the bottom of the mouse is shown in Figure 1, consists of semi-spherical lens and prism. The prism guides the light emitted from LED to the bottom of mouse as light source. The semi-spherical lens focuses the reflecting light to the receiver of optical sensor. The lens quality affects the accuracy of light transmission. If the lens quality is not good enough, the receiver cannot get clear image. Hence, how to adjust the process parameters during injection to increase dimensional accuracy is the challenge of this case.

Figure 1. The lens of optical mouse

Figure 2 is the optical mouse mold with eight cavities. To increase the mesh resolution and computation efficiency, we adopted quarter symmetry model in simulation. The control factors are filling time, packing time, melt temperature and maximum packing pressure. The quality factors are shear stress distribution, total displacement and volume shrinkage distribution. The final goal of this optimization is to find proper process parameter combination for minimum shear stress distribution, minimum total displacement without over-packing.

Figure 2. The mold layout of lens

Decreasing the shear stress can avoid birefringence problem which results from residue stress. Birefringence will blur the original image. Decreasing the total displacement can reduce appearance error which may generate optical aberration problem on lens. Generally speaking, increasing packing time and packing pressure can decrease the total displacement but probably leads to another problem, over-packing. The volume shrinkage value becomes negative if over-packing happens. That is why we would like to take volume shrinkage into consideration as an extra quality factor.

Table 1 is the discrete setting of control factors. Large parameter range is set in order to detect tendency with the MOST optimization. Figure 3 lists the iteration history in Isight. Isight obtained the optimization result after completing 20 iterations based on Moldex3D preliminary run. The best process parameter combination is the 13th set which is highlighted in green in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Iteration history in Isight

Table 1. Discrete setting of control factors, number in red circle is the best process parameter combination

The best parameter combination is: Filling time 1.5s, melt temperature 290℃, packing pressure 100MPa with packing time 5s which are circled in red in Table 1. Table 2 compares the quality factor of optimization with the preliminary analysis. The comparison reveals that the best parameter combination obtained by Isight can achieve the three objectives we set. Especially the total displacement has been reduced by 40% in optimization. Besides, the over-packing problem is alleviated as well. Figure 4 compares the total displacement of preliminary analysis with optimization result under the same scale. The displacement of lens has great improvement especially at the center of lens.

Table 2. Quality factor result of preliminary run and optimization

Figure. 4 Comparison of total displacement initial result (left) and optimized result (right)