7 Reasons to Perform a Mold Flow Analysis
Mold flow analysis can be essential to ensure that a mold is capable of producing the strongest and most consistent parts. Is mold flow a necessary step of the process, or is it just extra time and effort?
Here are our top seven reasons why you should always perform a mold flow analysis:
1. Optimization of Design
Without any tooling or molding necessary, you can answer all the what-if questions ahead of time. Mold flow analysis can point out many concerns or production factors, including:
- Material selection issues
- Thickness/thinness problems
- Structural concerns
- Weld line controls
- Residual or structural stress issues
- Filling concerns
- Product function requirements
- Sink or appearance problems, and more
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
- And everything else that is central to your production process
There’s no trial and error involved; there are just proven scientific engineering answers from art to part.
3. Optimization of Injection Molds and Tooling
You have all the information and answers 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
- Mitigation of short-shot molding issues
- Optimal injection mold materials
- Prototype and production tooling
- The best cooling layouts
- Structural and thermal analyses for tool life
- Core pull/deflection issues
- Reasons for tool failures
- Engineering calculations of pressure or force necessary for each part
- Etc…
4. Trying Different Materials
You’re now 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 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. Ability to Select the Perfect Source
You can select the right source with expertise and practical experience for simulation, design, tooling, and molding. Otherwise, you would be spending money on analysis costs, as well as all tooling and molding issues, without obtaining any of the savings from upfront process simulation.
7. 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, and speed up overall cycle time and present your business with an abundance of benefits. New Berlin Plastics provides mold flow analysis as one of its many services, with the intent of helping your business improve manufacturing processes and saving time and money. Contact New Berlin today and add mold flow analysis to your production as a way to improve the simplicity and quality of your final products.