Anisotropic shrinkage result

The Anisotropic shrinkage result shows half the difference between the perpendicular and parallel shrinkage value for each element.

The formula to calculate this result is (SH_{perpendicular} − SH_parallel)/2.

Note: Parallel shrinkage is defined to be in the direction of greatest fiber orientation for fiber-filled materials and in the flow direction of the material for non-fiber-filled materials. Perpendicular shrinkage is defined to be the inplane direction perpendicular to the direction of parallel shrinkage.

When using unfilled or particle filled materials, the anisotropic shrinkage may be positive (indicating that the perpendicular shrinkage is dominant), or negative (indicating the parallel shrinkage is dominant). Fiber-filled materials almost always have positive anisotropic shrinkage .

This result uses shrinkage computed at each element before warpage is calculated, therefore these shrinkage values represent the tendency to shrink at each element before the structural influence of the surrounding part is considered.

Using this result

The difference between the parallel and perpendicular shrinkage in each element is an indication of the warpage due to orientation. The greater the difference, the greater the warpage is likely to be.

The distribution of the anisotropic shrinkages is the most useful result to examine when considering the warpage problems due to the orientation effect.

You may want to consider ways to reduce warpage due to differential shrinkage in your part.