Plastic Injection

Plastic Injection enables you to perform Fill, Pack, and Mold simulations to optimize the design of thermoplastic parts and plastic injection molds.

You can simulate the main plastic injection molding steps, which include filling a mold cavity with a plastic material, packing a plastic material inside the cavity, and cooling the mold.

See Also
What's New
Plastic Injection Basics
In Other Guides
3DEXPERIENCE Platform
3DEXPERIENCE Native Apps

Plastic Injection is a native app that you can use to:

  • Select a suitable material from a database of over 3,000 plastic materials.
  • Specify the temperature settings of the molding machine.
  • Specify the filling time, flow rate, or screw speed.
  • Specify the pressure settings and cooling times used during packing.
  • Define one or more injection locations on the parts.
  • Customize the mesh to balance solution accuracy against simulation run time.
  • Predict the temperature distribution within the mold and cavity.
  • Identify any part defects and make changes to the process parameters, part geometry, or mold cooling lines to improve the product's quality.

Before you use Plastic Injection, you must define all required parts. For example, you must have a model of the part cavity defined as a single solid part. If you plan to simulate the temperature distribution in the mold, you must also define any mold cooling lines as solid parts. You can use the Functional Plastic Parts or Mold Tooling Design apps to create these parts.

Once you have a model, Plastic Injection lets you create Fill, Pack, and Mold simulations. You can use the results of these simulations to predict:

  • Fill: Manufacturing problems (for example, short shots, sink marks, weld lines, and air traps) and material degradation (from shear heating)
  • Pack: Freezing times and frozen areas
  • Mold: Cooling system inefficiencies and hot spots

The results include animations of the plastic material filling the part cavity, which you can use to diagnose some of the problems listed above. The results also include filling pressure and clamping force predictions, which you can use to select an appropriate machine for producing your part.

For information about accessing Plastic Injection, see Opening an App from the Compass.