In this task you will be introduced to some of the results and summary information available from analyses in Autodesk Simulation Moldflow Adviser. The analysis sequence in this example is Cooling Quality+Fill+Pack+Sink Marks+Warp.
The model that you will be using in this task is a phone cover. The Moldflow Results file contains results from two analysis sequences. The first study contains results using a gate in the optimal position, in the middle of the part. The second study shows the same results from an analysis using a gate at one end of the part.
Tip: The Traffic Light tool can be used to limit what range of results are displayed, for the following results only: Confidence of Fill, Cooling Quality and Quality Prediction results, all of which use the traffic light colors (red, yellow, green). This is useful when most of the part is one colour, and there are small sections that may be difficult to see. Right click on the model to open the context menu and select the Traffic Light tool.
Warp results are coloured according to how far the out-of-plane deflections are from the specified nominal maximum deflection (NMD) value, based on a "best fit" technique. Green indicates a low amount of warpage, yellow indicates significant warpage, and red indicates very high warpage. Both results in this example are all green, indicating that warpage is low throughout the part.
- Warpage indicator, all effects result
- The Warpage indicator, all effects result is a combination of three contributors to warpage: differential shrinkage, differential cooling and orientation effects.
- Warpage indicator, differential shrinkage result
- This result displays warpage caused by variations in shrinkage from region to region within the part. This is often caused by variations in crystalline content and volumetric shrinkage.
Sink Mark analysis allows you to view the estimated depth of the sink marks and evaluate how they may appear on the part.
- Sink marks estimate result
- This result shows the estimated depth of each sink mark.
- Sink marks shaded result
- This result shows how sink marks may appear on the molded surface of the part. Use this result to evaluate the visual impact of the defect.
Fill analysis results are output in the filling phase.
- Confidence of fill result
- This result shows the probability of plastic filling a region within the cavity under conventional injection molding conditions. The Confidence of fill result is derived from the pressure and temperature results. Areas that are green will fill easily and part quality should be acceptable. Yellow areas indicate parts of the cavity that are difficult to mold, or where the quality is low. Red areas show parts of the cavity that are very difficult to fill, or that have very low quality. When a short shot occurs, areas that were not filled remain translucent.
- Quality prediction result
- This result estimates the expected quality of the part's appearance and its mechanical properties. This result is also derived from the pressure and temperature results. Green, yellow and red are used to indicate good, average and poor quality areas.
Cooling channels are not considered in Cooling Quality analyses, and it is assumed that the part is in the center of a block of metal (the mold), and is held there for a specified length of time.
- Cooling time variance
- This result shows result shows the difference between the time it takes the polymer to freeze in any region of the part, and the average time to freeze for the entire part. Areas that have a much higher cooling time than average are the areas that determine the overall cycle time. Areas the cool much sooner than the average may contribute to warpage or other defects.
- Cooling quality result
- The Cooling quality result shows you where heat tends to stay in a part, due to its shape and thickness. This result is derived from the cooling time variance and temperature variance results.
- Click
. - Navigate to C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Simulation Moldflow Communicator 2014\tutorial\ and open the file: ama_results_tutorial.mfr.
- Click Open. The first result in the result file is displayed.
- Review the results by clicking on each result in the Study Tasks pane.
Note: Click and select Notes from the drop-down meny, to display the Notes pane. Select the Plot Note tab to view notes that may have been written about each result.
- The project file contains two studies of the same part, using different injection locations. You can look at results from both studies at the same time by comparing them. Click
(). The first result of each study appears, one above the other. The displays synchronize, allowing you to manipulate them together. - Look at the results of each of the studies to see the subtle differences between placing a gate in the middle of the part and placing a gate at one end of the part. The maximum sink mark depth slightly increased when the gate was placed at the end of the part, however, overall the results from both analysis sequences were similar.
- In the Study Tasks pane, select Summary. The Summary pane is displayed.
- View each Summary by selecting a tab.
Detailed analysis logs are produced in Autodesk Simulation Moldflow Insight. In Autodesk Simulation Moldflow Adviser, analyses produce a summary of each analysis in the sequence. These may contain analysis setup information, graphs, solver warnings and summarised information about various measurements. For example, the Fill analysis summary contains a pie graph of the cycle time, and the following information:
- Analysis time
- Actual filling time
- Actual injection pressure
- Clamp force area
- Maximum clamp force during filling
- Velocity/pressure switch-over at % volume
- Velocity/pressure switch-over at time
- Total part weight at the end of filling
- Shot volume