It is estimated that Moldflow software is still a single-CPU software and has not been optimized for multiple CPUs. Therefore, it can only use resources of one CPU in a multi-CPU environment and cannot use resources of other CPUs; but multiple cores can also open multiple windows and analyze several solutions together.

Moldflow Part Adviser
Plastic part adviser enables part designer to pay attention to processability of product in initial design stage of product and points out problems that are prone to occur. Part designer can understand how to change wall thickness, part shape, gate location and material selection to improve processability of part. Plastic part adviser provides accurate information about location of weld marks, trapped air, flow time, pressure and temperature distribution.
Moldflow Mold Adviser
It can design gating system and balance gating system, and can calculate injection cycle, clamping force and injection volume. It can establish a single-cavity system or a multi-cavity system mold.
Mold Adviser (upgraded product of Part Adviser)
Main features and advantages:
Analyze main channel, branch channel and gate
Calculate injection cycle, clamping force, injection volume
Automatic geometric modeling tool

1. Integrated user interface
2. Acquisition of CAE model
3. Introduction to analysis function
3. Moldflow Plastic expert (MPX-Moldflow injection molding expert)
MPX is specially designed to optimize injection molding production process. MPX provides very practical functions such as automatic mold trial, process optimization, automatic monitoring and adjustment of part quality. It replaces traditional mold trial with systematic technology and eliminates scrap caused by unstable production conditions. MPX has three modules:
Setup expert (mold trial expert)
Moldspace expert (process expert)
Production expert (injection molding expert)
Difference between MPA and MPI and their respective applications
MPA can be understood as "simple and fast" MPI.
MPA has less analysis content, simplified algorithms, and fast analysis speed. Accuracy of MPA's results is OK, which is basically same as MPI, but a little less.
MPA (moldflow plastics advisers) includes part advisers and mold advisers to provide analysis during injection molding process. It can provide following analysis: whether product structure is reasonable, how to choose appropriate injection molding material, how to determine reasonable gate position, automatic optimization of gate position, prediction of weld mark position, whether mold cavity is full, quality of final product, how to choose appropriate injection molding machine, shrinkage analysis, cost consultant and other analysis items. Due to lack of cooling support, some analysis results are quite different from actual ones. It can be compatible with most CAD software
MPI is flagship product of Moldflow
MPI (moldflow plastics insight) supports a variety of existing plastic molding analysis. Such as compression, injection molding, gas-assisted molding, chip packaging, thermosetting material molding, etc. Because model needs to be processed by finite element mesh. For complex products, preliminary processing will be more troublesome.
In terms of analysis results, it not only provides analysis of each phase and cooling, but also provides many values such as warpage deformation, molecular orientation, glass fiber orientation, etc., which are of great reference value for product design, mold design, and process.
Mid-surface flow technology
Simple way is to import MOLDFLOW in FUSION format, and after simple processing in FUSION, directly convert it into MIDPLAINE format
Application of mid-surface flow technology began in the 1980s. Its numerical method mainly adopts finite element/finite difference/control volume method based on mid-surface. So-called mid-surface is layer between mold cavity surface and core that needs to be extracted by user. Its simulation process is shown in Figure 1.
Injection molding flow simulation software based on mid-surface flow technology has been used for the longest time and the widest range. Its typical representatives include MF software of foreign Moldflow Company, C-Mold software of the former AC-Tech Company (acquired by Moldflow Company), and ISCAE-F3.0 software of National Key Laboratory of Mold Technology of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Practice shows that injection molding flow software based on mid-surface flow technology has great limitations in application, which are as follows: (1) Users must construct a mid-surface model, and it is very difficult to construct a mid-surface model directly from a solid/surface model by manual operation; (2) Independently developed injection molding flow simulation software (such as above-mentioned MF, C-Mold and HSCAE-F3.0 software) has poor modeling functions, and it often takes a lot of time to construct a mid-surface according to product model; (3) Due to ever-changing nature of injection molded products, success rate of CAD software that directly generates a mid-surface model from a product model is not high and its coverage is not wide; (4) Due to inconsistency between product model used in CAD stage and analysis model used in CAE stage, secondary modeling is inevitable, integration of CAD and CAE systems cannot be achieved.
It can be seen that mid-surface model has become a bottleneck in development of injection mold CAD/CAE/CAM technology. It is inevitable to use a solid/surface model to replace mid-surface model. In the late 1990s, flow simulation software based on double-surface flow technology came into being.
Double-sided flow technology
The most direct way to abandon mid-surface model is to use three-dimensional finite element method or three-dimensional finite difference method to replace coupling algorithm of two-dimensional finite element (flow direction) and one-dimensional finite difference (thickness direction) in mid-surface flow technology. Three-dimensional flow simulation has always been a hot research topic in the field of plastic injection molding. Its technical difficulties, short time of practical testing, huge amount of calculation, and long calculation time form a sharp contrast with the simplicity, long-tested, small amount of calculation, and instant calculation of mid-surface flow technology. At a time when three-dimensional flow simulation technology is struggling, a new method of injection molding flow simulation that retains all technical characteristics of mid-surface flow and is based on solid/surface technical model-double-sided flow technology has quietly come out. Typical representative of its commercial software is HSCAE 3DRF5.0 of State Key Laboratory of Mold Technology of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China, called three-dimensional realistic injection molding flow analysis system, and Part advisor of MoldFIOW, Australia, called injection molding product consultant.
So-called two-sided flow refers to dividing mold cavity or product into two parts in thickness direction, and finite element grid is generated on the surface of cavity or product, not on mid-surface. Correspondingly, unlike finite difference method based on mid-surface, which is performed on both sides of mid-surface, finite difference in thickness direction is only performed on inner side of surface. During flow process, plastic melts on upper and lower surfaces flow simultaneously and coordinately, and simulation process is shown in Figure 2.
Obviously, principles and methods used in two-sided flow technology are not essentially different from mid-surface flow. Difference is that two-sided flow uses a series of related algorithms to transform single stream of melt flowing along mid-surface into a double stream flowing in coordination along upper and lower surfaces. Since grids on upper and lower surfaces cannot correspond one to one, and grid shape, orientation and size cannot be completely symmetrical, how to control difference between melt flow fronts on upper and lower corresponding surfaces within range allowed in engineering is difficulty in implementing two-sided flow technology.
At present, injection molding flow simulation software based on two-sided flow technology mainly accepts STL file format of three-dimensional solid/surface model. This format records triangular facets generated after three-dimensional solid surface is discretized. Mainstream CAD/CAM systems, such as UG, Pro/E, Solidworks, AutoCAD, etc., can all output STL format files. That is to say, users can use any commercial CAD/CAM system to generate STL format files of three-dimensional geometric model of required product, and flow simulation software can automatically convert STL file into a finite element mesh model for injection molding flow analysis, which greatly reduces burden of modeling for users, reduces technical requirements for users, and shortens training time for users from several weeks in the past to several hours. Therefore, although injection molding flow simulation software based on double-sided flow technology has only been available for a few years, it has a large user base around the world and has received support and praise from a large number of users.
While double-sided flow technology has obvious advantages, it also has obvious disadvantages: incomplete analysis data. Although physical quantities of each flow front along thickness direction are calculated during simulation process, double-sided flow technology cannot be recorded in detail. Due to incompleteness of data, it is difficult to integrate flow simulation with cooling analysis, stress analysis, and warpage analysis. In addition, melt only flows along upper and lower surfaces, and no processing is done in thickness direction, which lacks realism. This shortcoming is clearly exposed when injection molding flow is performed in a transparent mold cavity.
Solid flow technology
In a sense, two-sided flow technology is just a means of transition from two-dimensional and half numerical analysis (mid-plane flow) to three-dimensional numerical analysis (solid flow). To realize virtual manufacturing of plastic injection products, solid flow technology must be relied on.
Implementation principle of solid flow technology is still same as that of mid-plane flow technology, but difference is that numerical analysis method is quite different. In mid-plane flow technology, since thickness of the product is much smaller than dimensions in the other two directions (often called flow direction), viscosity of plastic melt is large, and mold filling flow of melt can be regarded as an extended laminar flow, so velocity component of melt in thickness direction is ignored, and it is assumed that pressure in melt does not change along thickness direction, so that three-dimensional flow problem can be decomposed into a two-dimensional problem in flow direction and a one-dimensional analysis in thickness direction. Various quantities to be determined in flow direction, such as pressure and temperature, are solved by two-dimensional finite element method, while various quantities to be determined in thickness direction and time variables, etc., are solved by one-dimensional finite difference method. In solution process, finite element method and finite difference method are carried out alternately and depend on each other. In solid flow technology, velocity component of melt in thickness direction is no longer ignored, and pressure of melt changes with thickness direction. At this time, only three-dimensional grids can be used to numerically analyze filling flow of melt by relying on three-dimensional finite difference method or three-dimensional finite element method. Therefore, compared with mid-surface flow or double-surface flow, the biggest problem of injection molding flow simulation software based on solid flow is huge amount of calculation and long calculation time. For plastic products such as TV shells or washing machine cylinders, it still takes hundreds of hours to calculate a solution on the best configured microcomputer with current software. Such a long running time is very different from purpose of virtual manufacturing. Virtual manufacturing of plastic products is a collaborative design that closely combines product design with mold design, and pursues high quality, low cost and short cycle. How to shorten running time of solid flow technology is current research hotspot and urgent task in the field of injection molding computer simulation. Due to rapid development of high technology and urgent needs of plastics industry, it can be foreseen that three-dimensional injection molding flow simulation software that meets requirements of virtual manufacturing will emerge in next two years.

UG moldflow operation process
Ug (MPI cannot be used):
Install Mpa 6.0
Modify UGII ENV.DAT
UF_MF_PA_PATl=(Moldflow installation directory)\ Moldflow Plastics Advisers 6.0\ binUF_MF_PA_FACET_TOL=0.005<Change tolerance>
Environmental variables:
UF_MF_PA_PATl-(Moldflow installation directory)Moldflow Plastics Advisers 6.0\binStart UG--Application--Moldflow Part Adviser--Select entity-There is a License error prompt--0K twice to use MPA

 

Set task priority in Job Manager (default is low, it is recommended to set dual-core to high and single-core to normal, which is less likely to freeze), so that computer can calculate at full capacity, which is equivalent to setting task priority in task manager.

 

 

Generally use Generate Mesh command to divide mesh
In Global edge lenth (global length of mesh), enter desired mesh size
●MPI generally recommends a mesh size, some of which are not applicable
●To ensure basic analysis accuracy, mesh edge length is generally 1.5~2 times minimum wall thickness
●Mesh setting can be smaller, and calculation amount will be greatly improved
●In straight area, mesh size is consistent with setting, and MPI will automatically reduce edge length of curved surfaces, arcs and other details
●IGES merge tolerance (merge tolerance): When importing files for automotive parts molds and injection molding IGES, the default is 0.01mm.

 

Mesh Control
●Post procession -- Match mesh: For Fusion models, match mesh units of two corresponding surfaces.
●Post procession -- Smooth mesh (NURBS Surfaces only): For Midplane models, smooth mesh edges.
●Adaptive Meshing automatically determines mesh size of different shape areas.

 

Entity counts: Number of entities
·Surface triangles: Number of triangle elements
·Nodes: Number of nodes
·Beans: Number of one-dimensional elements
·Connectivity regions: Number of connected regions, should be 1
Edge details: Element edge information
·Free edges: Free edge information, Fusion and 3D mesh degree is 0
·Manifold edges: Cross edges
·Non-manifold edges: Non-overlapping edges, Fusion mesh degree is 0
Orientation details: Element orientation information
·Elements not oriented: Number of elements without orientation, should be 0
Intersection details: Element intersection information
·Element Intersection: Number of elements that intersect each other, should be 0
·Fully overlapping elements: Number of fully overlapping elements, degree is 0
·Duplicate beans: One-dimensional element overlap information
Surface triangle aspect ratio: Aspect ratio information of triangle elements
·Minimum aspect ratio: Minimum aspect ratio
·Maximum aspect ratio: Maximum aspect ratio
·Average aspect ratio: average value of aspect ratio
·Match ratio: unit matching ratio information (only for Fusion mesh), degree of mesh matching between upper and lower surfaces of model

 

For Fusion models, following principles must be met:
●Number of Connectivity regions should be 1
●Number of Free edges and Non-overlapping edges should be 0
●Elements not oriented should be 0
●Number of Element intersections should be 0
●Number of Fully overlapping elements should be 0
●Maximum value of Aspect ratio is generally controlled between 10 and 20
●Match ratio refers to degree of mesh matching between upper and lower surfaces of model. For Flow analysis, it should be greater than 85%, and it cannot be calculated if it is lower than 50%; for Wrap analysis, it should be greater than 85%, and it cannot be re-meshed if it is too low
●Number of Zero area triangle elements is 0
Pairing principle
Moldflow analysis requires a relatively high pairing ratio to perform analysis, especially for warpage analysis. I don't know whether analysis really requires element pairing or node pairing.
Only FUSION has pairing, it seems that nodes are paired, and it seems impossible to adjust afterwards. I think it should be paired again when remeshing, but nodes have changed, which affects pairing. Try not to increase or decrease nodes when correcting mesh.
Mesh thickness
Generally, thickness of model is changed on upper and lower surfaces of model. Thickness of side surface only needs to be filled. Generally, size of side surface is 0.75 times thickness
As mentioned in model in Huang Mingzhong's tutorial, discussion in the forum also ignores it, that is, it is auto-determined.

 

 

According to definition of triangle mesh aspect ratio, value range is 1.16~∞, that is, equilateral triangle~straight line
Generally, aspect ratio is required to be less than 6, and mininum is set to 10~20 (generally 15) for complex models
●Standard is defined as: AR=a/b with a value of 1.16~∞
●Normalized is defined as: AR=4(3)^1/2*s/(1₁²+ 1₂²+1₃²) with a value of 0~1; s is area of triangle, and 1 is length of each side of triangle.

 

Click lead line to select defective triangular unit
Generally follow principle of "from large to small, region first", that is, modify triangular unit with large aspect ratio, and modify defects in adjacent area at the same time
Modification plan is not unique, depending on model requirements:
●Merge Nodes: equivalent to deleting units
●Swap Edge: change direction of common edge of two triangular units
●Remesh Area: re-mesh a certain area, locally encrypt or sparse
●Insert Node: equivalent to adding units
●Move Nodes: change aspect ratio
●Align Nodes: select head and tail nodes, then select middle node to arrange on straight line of head and tail nodes
●Smooth Nodes: get a more evenly distributed grid, which is beneficial for calculation
●Create Triangles: cooperate with deleting units; unit normal needs to be considered
●Delete Entities: cooperate with creating units
●Purge Nodes: clear redundant nodes after deleting units
●Orient Elements (unit orientation): change normal of triangular element
●Orient All (all unit orientation): implement unified orientation of the whole

 

 

Double-click Analyze now! in the Study Tasks window or select

 

Cooling temperature of part combined with cooling degree of cold runner is related to whether part can be ejected smoothly. When 80% of part + 60% of runner reaches ejection temperature, part can be ejected smoothly.
●Screen 0utput analysis process screen dynamic display: in Analysis Log
●Results Summary: open Log display, three Log windows are Fill Flow Cool
●Flow fill results: check results to be viewed in the Study Tasks window
●Cool cooling analysis results: check the results to be viewed in the Study Tasks window

 

 

You can select Query Result to query model node temperature and other information

 

Pressure distribution in mold cavity during filling

 

Theoretical temperature distribution should be uniform, so result temperature difference should not be too large

 

It is weighted temperature in thickness direction of workpiece

 

Helps with flow analysis and determines length of holding time

 

Directly determines lower limit of injection pressure value that injection molding machine can provide for part molding

 

Can be used to set movement of screw of injection molding machine during injection molding process

 

Air pockets should be located at parting surface or at the end of ribs to facilitate exhaust and prevent defects such as bubbles and burn marks.

 

Temperature differences should be minimized and temperature distribution should be uniform

 

Inlet and outlet temperatures of coolant should be controlled at 2~3℃, otherwise cooling plan needs to be modified (layout, pipe diameter, coolant cooling)

 

Temperature difference between cooling pipe wall and mold wall should be controlled within 5℃.

 

Temperature difference of parts causes warping, this value should be minimized and controlled within 20℃

 

Should be minimized to achieve uniform cooling