Shrinkage in mold designs

Shrinkage occurs as a plastic part cools. Consider the amount of shrinkage when making the mold so that the dimensions of the finished part meet the part design specification.

Shrinkage is classified as:

• Isotropic when the shrinkage in the flow direction is about equal to the shrinkage across the flow direction
• Anistropic when shrinkage in the flow direction is substantially different to the shrinkage across the flow direction.

To compensate for this shrinkage, adjust the mold dimensions. You can use the Shrinkage feature to set this adjustment manually by using grade-specific material data.