In most cases, quality is of paramount importance for plastic injection moulds to guarantee the stable production. So how to accomplish the great moulds? One of the keys is mould flow analysis.
What is mould flow?
It is a simulation plastic flow (molding process) by professional plastic injection molding computer-aided software. Through mould flow, there would be rigorous guidance and feedback for plastic parts and moulds design analyzing flow, cooling, warpage and injection pressure and so on.
Kindly check the short video about simple mould flow of plastic air conditioner part, you can see that the mould flow can be a visual glossary of plastic injection molding for further discussion.
Now you have a better idea of what mould flow is, and then let’s have a think:
Why is mould flow analysis critical to make injection mould?
Mould folw analysis, a step that comes before starting making the mould, in fact takes place during the design stage. As the saying goes: 5 minutes improvement by mouldflow in front of computer equal 5 weeks in workshop. Thus, it is a “simple” way to take plastic injection mould from good to great via mould flow analysis.
Through mould flow analysis, we can see the key conditions for greater part and mould, which allows enhancing part and mould design to create outstanding products:
- Material
Material is the basic for starting the following processes, sometimes the product will be different by different material by the same mould. So when it’s possible to predict how it would be by different materials, why not try? Especially when it is necessary to choose the most suitable material for the final product.
- Gate location optimization
There is not only one solution for the gate location to help part molding smoothly, but there is the better solution which can help molding smoothly with high quality. It shall consider both the product requirement and mould tooling requirement.
- How the product will be filled
During this process, it could discover defects in part or mould design, such as if the plastic flow consistently and uniformly, wall thickness complications, potential visual defects, including air traps, sink marks and weld lines
- Pressure, fill time and melt temperature etc.
Based on a selected gate location and material properties, mould folw analysis is able to different data points, such as pressure, fill time and melt temperature. And by these data analysis, designers could improve the part or mould design to enhance efficiency and quality for actual production.
So the effect mould flow analysis has on the quality of the mold, the performance and appearance of product makes it an indispensable component of any plastic injection molding design project.
(Ps: and of course that it is not necessarily for every part, because some plastic product are very simple (simple structure, not tight tolerances, normal material), it’s easier to make the best mould by experienced designers and workers.)
Anyway the benefit is obvious, right? Doing mould flow analysis allows for optimization of the product and mould design before mould manufacturing, which could avoid unnecessary rework, finally it save much time cost for manufacturers and product sellers.
