Performance Plastics – How a mold flow analysis can save you time and money.

A Mold flow analysis is a software simulation that can show how resin will fill the mold during the injection molding process. By understanding material fill, injection mold designers can better position gates, anticipate where knit lines will appear, and locate difficult-to-fill spots in the mold.

The predictive process of mold flow analysis can uncover design issues, save resources, allow for preemptive correction, speed up overall cycle time, and present your business with an abundance of benefits. Mold flow analysis is essential to ensure that a mold can produce the strongest and most consistent parts.

Here are our top six reasons why you should always perform a mold flow analysis:

1. Optimization of Design

Without the investment of tooling or molding, all the what-if questions can be addressed ahead of time. Mold flow analysis can point out many concerns or production factors, including:

• Material selection issues
• Thickness/thinness problems
• Structural concerns
• Residual or structural stress issues
• Filling concerns

2. Quick & Immediate Decisions

With mold flow analyses, you can make immediate, informed decisions. These decisions can impact multiple areas of the process including:

• Product design
• Material and process selection
• Tooling

3. Optimization of Injection Molds and Tooling

You will have all the information upfront to make the most optimal choices in injection molds and tooling to create the perfect product. Mold flow analysis can show you everything you need:

• The optimal gate locations
• Balanced filling and packing
• Cavity layout
• The best cooling layouts
• Structural and thermal analyses for tool life

4. Trying Different Materials

You’re able to test out different materials and designs without building any prototype parts or tools. You can get virtual parts with a simulation as well, so you can have a full process simulation with minimal upfront investment.

5. Optimize Overall Cycle Time

Mold flow analyses can optimize your overall cycle time by up to 10-30%. That reduction percentage on just one part can cancel out the cost of a complete flow analysis of multiple molded parts!

6. Specification

Plastic parts can be optimized for exact machine specification, cycle time, cooling, DOE, and more, without reducing production time or putting any tools on molding machines; this can help improve your bottom-line profit.

The predictive process of mold flow analysis can uncover design issues, save resources, provide for preemptive correction, speed up overall cycle time, and present your business with an abundance of benefits.

Performance Plastics provides mold flow analysis to help your business improve manufacturing processes by saving time and money. For more information on how mold flow analysis can provide simplicity and quality to products, please contact Rich Reed, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at [email protected], or visit our website at www.performanceplastics.com.