on 12/04/2012

DONGHEE Benefits from Moldex3D Simulation Capabilities to Create Better Parts

Customer Profile

Customer: DONGHEE
Industry: Automotive
Solution: Moldex3D Advanced Package
Country: Korea

 

 

Founded in 1972 and formerly known as DONGSEUNG Co., Ltd., DONGHEE is a professional automotive parts supplier based in Korea. The organization provides a full range of products related to automotive parts, including suspensions, fuel tanks, pedals, bumpers and etc. Backed by accumulated experience specialized in manufacturing automotive parts, the company built a trusted relationship with the leading automotive manufacturer, Hyundai Motors Co., Ltd. In 1986, DONGHEE Industrial Co., Ltd. was established, and which received the production line and technology transfer from Hyundai and secured the production system comprising press, welding, painting and assembly lines.(Souce: DONGHEE)

Executive Summary

DONGHEE Industrial Co., Ltd. focuses on manufacturing various automotive parts such as chassises, fuel tanks, pedals, sunroofs, axle housings and bodies. The company leveraged on Moldex3D to improve the quality of auto parts. In this case, DONGHEE modified the gate design through Moldex3D simulation results to prevent the cracking problem caused by the weld line on the frame part.

Challenges

On the panoramic sunroof frame part, there’s a problem area which would lead to cracking problem. To prevent the problem, DONGHEE needed to identify where the potential crack location would be and improve the situation. Usually structural stiffness analysis will be performed in order to identify the weak areas. However, the structural analysis does not take the effect of weld lines into consideration; therefore certain important properties of molding process may be neglected.

Solutions

With the help of Moldex3D Advanced Package, DONGHEE was able to indicate the problem areas by validating and optimizing designs in advance so as to reduce errors and improve quality.

Case Study

The original design used two gates. The weld line was found on the easily cracked location. By implementing the injection molding simulation results, DONGHEE also found that there were air traps on the location of the weld line, which might affect the part stiffness and result in cracks. By viewing the result of fiber orientation, it showed that the fiber orientation result of two gate design led to a weld line, which was not stiff enough.

Therefore, another three gate design was proposed. The simulation result of the optimized design showed that the weld line location disappeared. Moreover, after observing the air trap locations and the fiber orientation, the result all showed that the stiffness of the crack location had been improved. By using Moldex3D to check different gate designs, DONGHEE successfully improved the part stiffness by changing gate numbers and locations.

Original two-gate design and its simulation result

Optimized three-gate design and its simulation result

Original design: The weld line location (shown in blue circle) caused cracking problem. Optimized Design: The weld line location disappeared, and the part strength had been improved.

 

Without considering the molding properties influence on structural analysis (see Case 1 in chart below), there might be a gap between the analysis result and the real situation. Thus, it is necessary to consider the effect of injection molding process when performing structural analysis.

As a conclusion, the structural analysis with the integration of molding process (see Case 2 in chart below) properties shows that the gate location will have impact on both the locations of weld lines and cracks. Furthermore, it is found that changing the numbers and the locations of gates will improve the part stiffness and prevent cracks from happening. By using Moldex3D to investigate and optimize different gate designs, DONGHEE successfully strengthened part stiffness and enhanced the product quality right at the early development stage.


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