Fully-Coupled Analysis Brings Optimal Accuracy to Part and Mold Design

CAE technology for mold filling simulation helps users predict potential product defects before actual mold production. It facilitates efficient manufacturing process and high-quality products, and reduces trial-and-error costs. Fully-coupled process simulation can provide more accurate simulation results and reliable analysis data for product and mold designs, according to Moldex3D, EPS FloTek. This analysis calculation delivers simulation data in every time-step program solver, which improves analysis accuracy. Here, Moldex3D reviews the differences between conventional and fully-coupled process simulation:

Conventional analysis process. Filling, cooling, packing and warp are separate solvers and will run analysis sequentially instead of simultaneously. The data transmits among different programs through file communication, which is a one way process. For instance, when filling analysis is proceeding, cooling analysis has already finished, means filling and cooling analysis cannot interact immediately. So, the required file and hard disk space will be larger if the communications get more frequent.

Fully coupled analysis process. In fully-coupled analysis, the kernels of filling, cooling, packing and warp are integrated and can run simultaneously, so the physical quantities in the mold can affect each other. Fully-coupled analysis results can be more reliable and consistent to real-world molding. This can also be used to predict heat accumulation areas of complex geometric products.

The case in the image shows the difference between conventional and fully-coupled process simulation. The shear heating at the filling stage will frequently interact with the mold temperature at cooling stage. The interactions can be considered in fully-coupled analysis, so obvious heat accumulation results can be calculated. This is shown by the difference of pressure analysis results between two simulation types. The highest temperature in fully coupled analysis is 97.5 ℃. This is 11.4℃ higher than in conventional analysis (86.1 ℃). Because the pressure data can be delivered more easily, the average internal pressure of the product in fully coupled analysis is 1.75MPa, which is 0.29MPa lower than in conventional analysis (2.04MPa).