This document provides an overview of PTC's Creo Mold Analysis (CMA) software for injection molding simulation. It discusses injection molding processes, the CMA user interface and workflow, and provides a case study example of simulating a cell phone housing part. Key aspects covered include assigning materials, setting up gates and analysis, reviewing results such as melt front time, air traps, weld lines, and sink marks. The document also summarizes Moldex3D's product portfolio for injection molding simulation and analysis.

1. PTC CREO MOLD
ANALYSIS EXTENSION
Robin Wei (robinwei@moldex3d.com)
Russell J.H. Hsu (ruhsu@ptc.com)
September 2014

2. 2
• Injection Molding Processes
• Introduction to Creo Mold Analysis
• Case Study
• Moldex3D Product Portfolio
• Appendix A
• Appendix B
TABLE OF CONTENTS

3. 3
INJECTION MOLDING PROCESSES

4. 4
INJECTION MOLDING PROCESSES
WarpCoolingPackingFilling
PTC Creo Mold Analysis (CMA) is an injection molding
simulation application that focuses on filling process

5. 5
The melt passes through
different thickness areas
The 2 different gating scenario
INJECTION MOLDING PROCESSES
1.Hesitation
2.Race track phenomenon
3.Air-trap
4.Flow mark
5.Unbalanced flow pattern

6. 6
INTRODUCTION TO CREO MOLD ANALYSIS

7. 7
• Process Wide Mold Filling Simulation – Creo Mold Analysis
CMA OVERVIEW
Design part
Perform a
simulation with
CMA
Check
Result
Modify the
geometry or
process condition
MODELING SIMULATE
MODIFY

8. 8
USER INTERFACE
Pre-Process Analysis Result View & Report Tool

9. 9
• Startup CMA
• Assign material
• Gate setup
• Analysis setup
• Run analysis
• Review result advisor
• Check analysis results
• Create report
• Save and retrieve data
CMA WORK FLOW

10. 10
STARTUP CMA
Run Creo
Open a *prt file

11. 11
STARTUP CMA
Launch Creo Mold Analysis
Click “Cold Analysis”
The “Mold Analysis” tab will come out

12. 12
ASSIGN MATERIAL
Choose Material (Ex: ABS, ASAHI, STYLAC
VA29)

13. 13
GATE SETUP
1. Select “Gate Setup” 2. Select ”Add” and then click a
melt entrance position

14. 14
GATE SETUP (CONT’D)
3. Enter the gate diameter 4. Users can add new gate,
edit and delete existing
gate

15. 15
ANALYSIS SETUP
Select “Analysis setup” to set the process condition and mesh level
Filling time (sec.)
Filling time here is defined as the time required to fully
fill the cavity with “incompressible” material. Based on
cavity volume (part volume + cold runner volume) and
filling time, a given volumetric flow rate is forwarded to
Moldex3D Flow solver.
Melt Temperature (℃)
Melt temperature is the temperature of the plastic melt
at the melt inlet of the model.
Mold Temperature (℃)
Mold temperature is applied to the temperature
boundary condition between mold base and part. CMA
assumes that the boundary temperature distribution is
uniform.

16. 16
ANALYSIS SETUP
Select “Analysis setup” to set the process condition and mesh level
If users calculate the max cooling time
and sink mark, the packing analysis
would be added into analysis process.

17. 17
ANALYSIS SETUP
Select “Analysis setup” to set the process condition and mesh level
Move slider can select from “Coarse” to “Fine” for
different mesh levels.
• The lower level means the fewer elements, which
speeds up the computation.
• The higher level means the more elements, which
contributes to more accurate computation result.

18. 18
RUN ANALYSIS
When all settings are done.
Click “Run Analysis” will launch analysis.

19. 19
REVIEW RESULT ADVISOR
Click “Select Analysis” and choose the run
Melt front time is the default frame

20. 20
REVIEW RESULT ADVISOR
Click “Results Advisor” to find the problem the model may have.
Short shot
Air trap
Air traps found inside the cavity.
This may cause voids or surface defect.
Degradation
The resultant melt temperature is more than the
maximum working temperature of the material.
Hesitation
The flow speed is too low in some regions in the
cavity causing flow hesitation. In extreme cases,
flow hesitation may lead to hesitation mark on the
model surface or even short shot.
Unbalanced gate contribution
The melt contribution for each gate is unbalanced.
Weld line
Sharp welding angles found at some places. Weld
lines may become visible.
Short shot
Model is incompletely filled at the end of filling.
Short shot may occur.

21. 21
REVIEW RESULT ADVISOR
Click the issues, the screen will
show the corresponding result
Click “Results Advisor” to find the problem the model may have.
Short shot

22. 22
CHECK ANALYSIS RESULTS
The screen can show the analysis result and x-y plot at the same time

23. 23
CHECK ANALYSIS RESULTS - VIEW CONTROL
Choose the analysis result and click “View Control”
Clipping Function
To clip the present model to view result inside.
Slicing
Show single/multiple slicing plane.
Parameters
To define a clipping plane by entering the
equation of the plane

24. 24
CHECK ANALYSIS RESULTS - VIEW CONTROL
Isosurface
Show Isosurface on the model. The
values of every point on the isosurface
are the same.
Choose the analysis result and click “View Control”
Parameters
Define the value to display

25. 25
CHECK ANALYSIS RESULTS - VIEW CONTROL
Switch the Tab to “Legend” to change
the display limit of the legend bar
Choose the analysis result and click “View Control”

26. 26
CREATE REPORT
Click ”Generate Report” to generate power point report

27. 27
SAVE AND RETRIEVE DATA
• Click “Save Project” to save CMA data as *.xedz file.
• To check the previously analyzed result, click “ Retrieve
Project” and load the *.xedz file that keeps the CMA data.

28. 28
CASE STUDY
- CELL PHONE HOUSING

29. 29
• Dimension
– Length: 127 mm
– Width: 50 mm
– Height: 5 mm
– Average Thickness: 0.7 mm
• Materials
– PP Advanced Composites ATX-880N-1
• Processing Conditions
– Filling time: 0.54 Sec
– Melt temperature: 210°C
– Mold temperature: 50°C
CASE STUDY - CELL PHONE HOUSING
Product Information

30. 30
• Potential Problems
– Air Trap
– Degradation
– Unbalanced flow
– Welding line
ORIGINAL DESIGN – TWO GATES
Original Design – Two Gates located on the ends of the product
Gates

31. 31
• Length/Thickness Ratio
– The maximum L/T ratio reaches to 153.54
POTENTIAL PROBLEMS
Welding Line
The welding lines are aligned, forming a long
weak line on the center

32. 32
• Unbalanced flow
– There is a 13% difference between the contributions of each gate
POTENTIAL PROBLEMS
Sprue pressure
The maximum sprue pressure reaches to
76.78 MPa

33. 33
REVISED DESIGN – THREE GATES
Gates

34. 34
• Length/Thickness Ratio
– The maximum L/T ratio has been reduced from153.54 to 63.487
IMPROVEMENTS – LENGTH/THICKNESS RATIO
Original design Revised design

35. 35
• Unbalanced flow
– The gate contributions are even in the revised design
IMPROVEMENTS – UNBALANCED FLOW
Original design Revised design

36. 36
• Sprue pressure
– The maximum sprue pressure decreased by 29 MP in revised design
IMPROVEMENTS – SPRUE PRESSURE

37. 37
• Weld Line
– The number and length of weld lines decreased
– The weld line aren’t aligned
IMPROVEMENTS – WELD LINE
Original design Revised design

38. 38
MOLDEX3D PRODUCT PORTFOLIO

39. 39
Structure and Market Position
MOLDEX3D PRODUCT STRUCTURE
eDesign Basic
CMA
Creo
eDesign
eDesignSYNC
Creo

40. Design Verification
and PLM Integration
Optimized Part
Designs
Productivit
y Sophisticate process
Multi-Component Molding
Fiber Orientation
Valve gate control
Advanced hot runner
Conformal cooling
Product Life Cycle Efficiency
HPC / Remote Computing
Cooling time reduction
Accuracy
Sensor and measurement
Powerful post-processing
tools
Quality
Warpage prediction
Identify flow balance
Identify residual stress
Material degradation
Shrinkage prediction
Tooling Validation
Clamping force
Multi-Cavity flow balance
Runner balance
Injection pressure
Packing pressure

41. 01
Flow
Everything starts
from filling analysis
02
Pack
Shrinkage compensation,
minimize warpage effect
03
Cool
Efficient mold
temperature
management
04
Warp
Minimize part
deformation
for design accuracy
MCM
Precise multi-
component
molding analysis
Fiber
Predict fiber length and orientation to
obtain optimal designs and process
conditions
High Performance Computing
(HPC)
Enable parallel computing and cluster
speed up the analysis process

42. 42
Indic
ators APPENDIX - A

43. 43
INDICATORS
Indicators provide information and suggestions to optimize the analysis results:
-Automatic Gate Creation (Gate Location Indicator)
-Cooling Time Indicator
-L/t Indicator
Detail instruction will be shown in the following pages.

44. 44
• Number of gates – The gate counts
• Gate Direction – mold open direction (+/- X,Y,Z)
• Gate diameter – The diameter of gates (All the gates are the same)
• Click “Calculate” will calculate proper gates location.
• After calculation click “Apply” can add gate automatically
AUTOMATIC GATE CREATION

45. 45
• Flow Length / Thickness Ratio
• Legend Range Setting – slider can change Min. and Max. scale bar
L/T INDICATOR

46. 46
• Legend Range Setting – slider can change Min. and Max. scale bar
• Material Information – info of material
– Density (g/cm^3)
– Melt Temperature (℃)
– Mold Temperature (℃)
– Eject Temperature (℃)
– Heat Capacity (erg/g.K)
– Thermal Conductivity (erg/sec.cm.K)
COOLING TIME INDICATOR

47. 47
APPENDIX – B
RESULT INTERPRETATIONS

48. 48
• Melt front is a position indicator as melt front boundary movement in different time duration in
the filling process.
• From the melt front advancement one can:
– Examine the filling pattern of the molding
– Check potential incomplete filling (short shot) problem
– Identify weld line locations
– Identify air trap locations
– Check gate contribution for runner balance
– Check proper gate location to balance flow and eliminate weldline.
MELT FRONT TIME

49. 49
• Air Trap result shows the possible locations that air trap could have occurred.
• Weld Line result shows the weld lines that indicate potential spots of weaker structure. The
darker the weld line, the weaker the structure.
AIR TRAP & WELD LINE

50. 50
• Sink Mark Indicator is the index to evaluate the packing effect.
• Positive value indicates that the packing is not enough, which it may lead to sink mark. Negative
value indicates over-packing.
• An optimized packing result will have sink mark indicator close to zero.
SINK MARK INDICATOR

51. 51
• Moldability result shows the ease of fill.
MOLDABILITY

52. 52
• Pressure distribution of the cavity is shown in different colors at current instant. Based on the
pressure drop and distribution, users can revise the part and mold design.
• From the pressure distribution one can:
– Check the pressure transmission situation
– Check runner system pressure drop
– Check flow balance of the design
– Avoid overpacking and flashing of melt
– Examine the extent of packing/holding.
PRESSURE

53. 53
• Plastic melt temperature distribution at current instant.
• For 3D calculation, the temperature distribution expresses temperatures in all three
dimensional for the entire cavity.
TEMPERATURE

54. 54
• Center temperature result shows the center melt temperature in the thickness direction at
current time step.
• The center temperature is calculated by interpolating from the temperature values of the nodes
that forms the element at the center of the path along the thickness direction.
CENTER TEMPERATURE

55. 55
• Bulk temperature is the velocity-weighted average melt temperature in the thickness direction
at current time step.
• In general, bulk temperature distribution can reflect the trend of flow path and therefore the
actual path of pressure transmission.
BULK TEMPERATURE

56. 56
• This result shows the recorded peak value of shear stress of each element during the filling stage. Note that the maximum shear
stress values shown in this result are not necessarily in the same time step.
• You can use this result to determine if the maximum shear stress in the finished part will exceed the maximum allowed shear stress.
MAX. SHEAR STRESS

57. 57
• This result shows the recorded peak value of shear rate of each element during the filling stage. Note that the maximum shear rate
values shown in this result are not necessarily in the same time step.
• Shear rate is the rate of shear deformation of the material during the polymer processing. Shear rate distribution is related to the
variation of velocity gradient and molecular orientation. High shear rate tends to drastically deform molecular chains even to break
and then weaken the strength of product. Viscous heating due to high shear rate also should be noticed.
MAX. SHEAR RATE

58. 58
• Frozen Layer Ratio result shows the volume percentage of frozen plastic with respect to part thickness at current time step. This
value will reach 100% as time passes by.
• The picture and the equation below explain how frozen layer ratio is calculated.
• Where is the thickness of the upper frozen layer, is the thickness of the lower frozen layer, and is the thickness of the cavity.
FROZEN LAYER RATIO

59. 59
• Max. Volume Shrinkage shows the maximum volumetric shrinkage across the part thickness at
current time step.
• If this result shows locally high positive value, sink mark or void may appear on the finished part
depends on the thickness of frozen layer.
MAX. COOLING TIME

60. 60
• Velocity Vector result shows the velocity vector of plastic melt at current time step.
VELOCITY VECTOR

61. 61
• Volumetric shrinkage shows the percentage of part volume change due to PVT change as the part is cooled from high temperature,
high pressure conditions at current instant to room temperature, ambient pressure conditions.
• Positive value represents volume shrinkage while negative value represents volume expansion due to over-packing.
• Non-uniform volumetric shrinkage will lead to warpage and distortion of molded parts.
VOLUMETRIC SHRINKAGE

62. 62
• Gate Contribution result shows the contribution to the volume of injected melt for each gate at
current time step.
• Note that the result values are shown in percentage.
• Normally a balanced gate contribution is required for obtaining optimized results.
GATE CONTRIBUTION

63. 63
• Material Orientation result shows the flow direction of plastic melt at current time step.
MATERIAL ORIENTATION

64. 64
• This result shows the plot of sprue pressure versus filling time.
• You can use this result to look for any unusual sprue pressure rise during filling.
• Often the sprue pressure will not exceed the maximum allowed injection pressure that is set in the process condition. If the resulting
sprue pressure curve stays at the maximum allowed injection pressure, hesitation or even short shot might occur.
X-Y PLOT - SPRUE PRESSURE

65. 65
• This result shows the plot of clamping force versus filling time.
• Note that this value is the calculated required clamping force; it is not the force that molding machine outputs.
• You can use this result to identify possible flash problem. From past experience, if the calculated clamping force is larger than 70%
of machine maximum clamping force, there is a good chance that plastic melt will be squeezed outside the cavity and cause flash.
X-Y PLOT - CLAMPING FORCE

66. 66
• This result shows the plot of flow rate at the sprue versus filling time.
• In most cases, the first stage of filling is controlled by the flow rate set by the machine operator. Therefore in this result, the flow rate
usually stays at the value set in the process condition of Moldex3D. If the resulting flow rate appears otherwise, you need to check if
the maximum allowed injection pressure is too low.
X-Y PLOT - FLOW RATE

67. ptc.com