Reactive Molding analysis

Reactive Molding provides useful information to detect various molding problems and to optimize part, mold, and process design in an efficient and cost-effective way.

Reactive Molding can be applied to various processes that use reactive (thermoset) materials, including Reaction Injection Molding (RIM), Structural Reaction Injection Molding (SRIM), Resin Transfer Molding for fiber reinforced plastic (RTM), thermoset injection molding, rubber compound injection molding, Microchip Encapsulation and Underfill Encapsulation.

Reactive Molding analyses help to predict how the mold will fill with or without the presence of fiber reinforced pre-forms, avoid short shots due to pre-gelation of the resin, highlight potential air trap or weld line problems, balance runner systems, select the proper molding machine size, and evaluate different reactive resins. The Reactive Molding analyses are integrated with the Autodesk material database, which offers more than 50 grades of lab-tested reactive molding materials.

Specifically, Autodesk Simulation Moldflow Insight's Reactive Molding analyses can:

• Predict the melt front pattern to aid in part design and gate placement to optimize cavity filling for most reactive processes.
• Calculate the conversion (extent of cure) versus time at any location within the mold during filling and post-filling.
• Determine injection pressure and clamp force requirements for proper molding machine selection.
• Display injection pressure at any point within the cavity at any time during the filling stage.
• Graphically display the temperature change as a result of the reaction kinetics inside the mold at any point in time.
• Detect short shots due to pre-gelation conditions.
• Accurately identify weld (knit) lines based on part design and gate placement.
• Accurately identify air traps for proper mold venting.
• For RTM and SRIM analyses: allow users to define multiple anisotropic fiber mats with different orientations in the cavity.
• For Reactive Molding and Microchip Encapsulation analyses, predict part warpage.¹