Why Water-Assisted Injection Molding Simulation?
Water-assisted injection molding (WAIM) is a special molding developed from gas-assisted injection molding (GAIM) with almost the same ideas, except for the medium used is water instead of inert gas. Both GAIM and WAIM provide mechanical strength and dimensional stability for thick molded products, which makes it possible to produce parts with less material without sacrificing quality. The water serving as a cheap packing material has high heat capacity and thermal conductivity, and therefore gives WAIM the advantages of short cycle time. WAIM helps companies to achieve not only the quality control, but also the energy and material savings. Moldex3D WAIM provides 3D solutions that enables users to visualize water penetration inside the mold cavity, get the insight of the process, and further optimize the mold design and process settings.
Illustrates (a) water penetration and (b) skin ratio distribution inside the cavity
Challenges
- Optimize the injection volume and water flow control to minimize hydraulic loss
- Determine proper molding process, such as short shot method, full shot method, or overflow region
- Avoid potential defects, such as welding lines, flow marks, shrinkage, or flatness
- Predict potential corner effect and blow through based on skin thickness distribution
What Can Moldex3D Do?
- Visualize skin thickness and core-out ratio distributions
- Detect potential defects, such as welding lines, flow marks, shrinkage, or flatness
- Optimize water flow controls, including enter time and location, overflow region, etc.
- Visualize the dynamic behaviors of polymer injection and water penetration inside the cavity
- Support push-back function for eliminating the switchover mark in full-shot process without overflow design
- Evaluate molding parameters, such as water entrance location, enter time, or overflow region
Water penetration analysis
Melt and water front at the (a) beginning of filling (b) end of filling for two models
Applicable Industries
- Electronics
- Automotive
- Medical
- Consumer Product
Applicable Moldex3D Package
- Moldex3D Professional Package
- Moldex3D Advanced Package