Design-of-Experiments analysis

Design-of-Experiments (DOE) is a tool which enables you to determine the size of the processing window that will make a good part. It can also be used to help you determine which processing conditions have the greatest impact on a given quality indicator. This is accomplished by running a series of experiments while varying selected processing conditions, and then calculating the results based on user-defined quality indicators.

The benefit of this approach is that significantly more high-quality information can be obtained from the resulting pattern of test data, than from more conventional trial-and-error experimenting. In general, a DOE analysis can be run at anytime during the design phase. However, it is probably best utilized after the material and gate location have been selected.

DOE analyses search for optimum processing conditions, by automatically launching a series of analyses while varying the values for selected input variables, such as:

• Mold/melt temperature.
• Injection/packing time.
• Thickness multiplier.
• Injection/packing profile multiplier.

This is done to optimize a wide selection of (single point) quality indicators, including:

• Flow front temperature, shear stress, injection pressure, clamp force,
• Volumetric shrinkage, sink mark depth, part weight, cycle time.

DOE analysis is supported by Midplane, Dual Domain and 3D mesh types, and is available for all molding process.