Unit 1: Material Searching

Material Searching, page 1

Material Searching Introduction

Aim
To be able to find materials on the database and compare their filler, viscosity index or other property. The materials manufacturer and trade name identify material on the database. Once a material is found, all of the materials properties can be reviewed.

Why do it?

A flow analysis requires a manufacturer and trade name of a material in order run the flow analysis. The mold temperature and melt temperature ranges are used to help optimize the molding conditions for a part. If the specific material being used to mold a part is not on the database, then a substitute can be found by reviewing various properties of the material to find a substitute.

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Overview
All the information that is in the material database can be accessed from Select Material dialog shown in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1, Select Materials dialog Three ways can be used to select a material. If the material is one of the last 5 materials chosen, it will be listed in commonly Used Materials section of the dialog. If the materials Manufacturer and Trade name and known the pull down list can be used. The search facility can be used.

Access to the Material Database

To search for a material there must be an open study.

Open a Study
1. 2. Use the command FileOpen. Navigate to the Mftrain\Plate CFW folder. Access the material searching utility by using the command AnalysisSelect Material or by clicking the icon in the study tasks list.

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Searching Examples

Find a material with a known Manufacturer and Trade Name

How you check to see if a material is on the database depends on the information you are given about the material. If you are given the materials manufacturer and trade name, the best place to find the material is to scroll through the Manufacturer and Trade name fields on the Select Material tab of the Molding Parameters dialog. This can be seen in .

Figure 2, Select Material dialog Navigating through list is easily done by; The scroll bar Typing the first few letters of the name you are looking for The arrow keys

The tab key can be used to navigate between the Manufacturer and Trade Name fields.

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Find the material Dupont Minlon 10B40.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Open Synergy, a project and study if necessary. Click on the Manufacturer field. Scroll through the list until you find DuPont Engineering Polymers. As an alternative, type dup then arrow down. Click on the Trade name field. Scroll through the list until you find Minlon 10B40. or type min and use arrow keys

Figure 3, Find Minlon 10B40

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Using Search

Sometimes the manufacturer of the material is not known, but the trade name is. The Search Criteria dialog is useful for finding materials when the manufacturer and tradename are not known.

Figure 4, Search Criteria dialog The Search Criteria dialog will have default search fields defined the first time it is opened. Other fields can be added at any time. The fields added are stored so the next time the dialog is opened the same fields and even substings are set. It is a good idea each time a new search is started the Clear Filters button is clicked. This will clear all the substings for all the Search Fields. This may prevent searching problems.

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Find for the material Lexan 141 from a US supplier.

1. 2. 3. Click on the Search button on the Select Material dialog. See Figure 3. Click the Clear Filters button. Look in the Search Fields list. Make sure Commercial name is in that list. If it is not, use the Add button and find the Commercial name search field and add it to the list. In the Substring field, enter lexan 141. Click the OK button.

4. 5.

Figure 5, Search Criteria dialog. A new dialog called Select Thermoplastics material dialog will come up with the search results. From this list the one Lexan from a US manufacturer can be picked. You can see that there are several matches but only one that is listed as being a US grade.

Figure 6, Lexan search results

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Find a similar material

To compare one material to another using the material database in MPI, you can use the following popular search criteria including; Manufacturer Trade Name Family abbreviation Filler data: Description Filler data: Weight Moldflow viscosity index Data source Any property stored in the database.

Once a search has been preformed, All fields can be sorted by clicking on the column heading in the Select Thermoplastics material dialog. Highlighting a material and clicking the Details button can be done to view the properties of a material From Details the viscosity curves of materials can be plotted.

All this information is used to find and compare similar materials. Finding similar materials can be useful for several reasons including; Find a material to use that is on the database as a substitute for a material that is not. Run a flow analysis with different materials to determine the material the part will be molded with. To see the effect different materials have on the parts wall thickness.

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Find all Polycarbonatess on the database with 20% Glass filler

Find all PCs

Finding the material will be done in steps. This is a common way to search for a material. Start with one search field and add criteria one at a time. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Click on the Search button from the Select materials dialog. Click the Clear Filters button. Enter pc for the family abbreviation substring. Click OK. Scroll down to the bottom of the Select Thermoplastic Materials dialog. Note that there are about 1050 materials listed. Look in the Family Abbreviation column. Many of the materials listed are PC blends. Click on the Family Abbreviation column. This will sort the column. Scroll up and down the list. Note that now all PCs are together and there are about 700.

The substring used in searching uses includes not exactly. This may result in more materials pick than desired.

Add glass to the search

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Get back to the Search Criteria dialog by clicking on the Search button. Enter glass for the Filler data: Description field. Click OK. Scroll down to the bottom of the Select Thermoplastic Materials dialog. Note that there are about 180 materials listed. Look in the Family Abbreviation column. Many of the materials listed are PC blends. Click on the Family Abbreviation column. This will sort the column. Scroll up and down the list. Note that now all PCs are together and there are about 140. Click on the Filler Data: Weight column. Note the range of glass filler is from about 5% to 50%. There are several 20% glass materials.

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Add Weight to the search

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Get back to the Search Criteria dialog by clicking on the Search button. Enter glass for the Filler data: Weight field. Click OK. Scroll down to the bottom of the Select Thermoplastic Materials dialog. Note that there are about 49 materials listed. Look in the Family Abbreviation column. Some of the materials listed are PC blends. Click on the Family Abbreviation column. This will sort the column. Scroll up and down the list. Note that now all PCs are together and there are about 40.

Figure 7, Filler Weight search setup All other fields can be searched in the same way. A combination of using different search fields and sorting the column can be used to limit the searching.

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Moldflow Viscosity Index

Moldflow Viscosity Index is searchable property that is very useful for comparing materials. It is a single point viscosity number much like melt flow rate but the shear rate used for the viscosity index is in the range of shear rates seen with injection molding. The viscosity index is in a form or VI(300)120. The number in parentheses is the melt temperature in degrees C, and the last number is the viscosity in Pa.s. The shear rate used in the index is always 1000 1/sec. This shear rate is within the range seen during injection molding so the viscosity index is a good representation for comparing one material to another. All materials of a particular type have the same temperature so materials can be easily compared. The higher the materials viscosity index, the stiffer the material. Many times the viscosity index is used in conjunction with the search criteria family abbreviation to separate materials that are blended. Many times the blends use different temperatures in the viscosity index so the viscosity index can be searched.

Find all ABSs

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Click on the Search button from the Select materials dialog. Click the Clear Filters button. Enter ABS for the family abbreviation sub-string. Click OK. Scroll down to the bottom of the Select Thermoplastic Materials dialog. Note that there are about 830 materials listed. Look in the Family Abbreviation column. Many of the materials listed are ABS blends. Click on the Family Abbreviation column. This will sort the column. Scroll up and down the list. Note that now all ABSs are together and there are about 580.

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Add viscosity index to the search

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Get back to the Search Criteria dialog by clicking on the Search button. Click the Add button. Find the Moldflow Viscosity Index in the list of search fields. Click the Add button to add it to the Search Fields list. Enter 240) for the Moldflow Viscosity Index field. Click OK. Scroll down to the bottom of the Select Thermoplastic Materials dialog. Note that there are about 590 materials listed. Look in the Family Abbreviation column. Many of the materials listed are ABS blends. Click on the Family Abbreviation column. This will sort the column. Scroll up and down the list. Note that now all ABSs are together and there are about 580. Click on the Moldflow Viscosity Index Column. This will sort the Viscosity Index. The higher the number the more viscous. This is a handy way to do a quick comparison on the viscosity between materials. You could further refine the viscosity index search by putting in a longer string for the viscosity index such as (240)1. This would search for all viscosity indexs in the 100s

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Plotting Viscosity
Once a list of materials is developed, the properties of a highlighted material can be viewed by clicking on the Details button. This will let you view all the properties stored for a material.

Plot the viscosity curve for a material

1. 2. 3. 4. Highlight a material on the Select Thermoplastic material dialog. Click the Details button. On the Rheological tab, click the show button On the Default viscosity model dialog click the Plot Viscosity button.

Figure 8, Material Details Once the viscosity plot is created, the query and options buttons can be used. The query button shows the shear rate and viscosity at the location the mouse is clicked on the screen between the curves. The options button allows the user to scale the X and Y axis.

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Questions
Name Date

Answer the following questions in the space provided, using material searching in Mold Adviser. The number of points for each question is listed in ( ) parentheses. There are 50 possible points. 1. (8) Is there a US supplier of Dow Magnum 3504? (Y/N) In what region of the world is the material available If it is available, what is the Material Supplier name and Polymer trade name? Material Supplier 2. (8) How many HDPE are on the database? How many HDPEs are from Ticona? What is the highest Viscosity index (VI) for a HDPE from Ticona What is the Tradename of a the highest VI HDPE from Ticona 3. (12) What is the total number of PA66s on the DB with a VI of VI(290)? What is the number of glass filled PA66s on the DB? What is the highest glass content of the PA66s? What is the lowest glass content of the PA66s? How many Zytels have 33% glass filled? What is the trade name of the lowest VI Zytel 33% glass filled? 4. (14) What is the total number of PBTs on the DB? What is the number of glass filled PBTs on the DB? What is the number of 30% glass filled PBTs on the DB? How many 30% glass filled PBTs does the supplier Bayer AG have? How many PBTs does Bayer AG have that are glass filled? What is the Trade name for the Bayer AG material with 12% glass? What is the Trade name for the Bayer AG material with 10% glass? 5. (8) How many grades of PEEK are on the DB? How many PEEK grades are from LNP? How many LNP PEEKs have carbon fillers? How many different trade names? Polymer trade name

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Unit 2: Importing a Model

Importing a Model, page 16

Import A Model Introduction

Aim
Create a good mesh on the plate. This involves importing an STL file, producing a finite element mesh of appropriate density and clean up any problems after the mesh has been produced.

Why do it
A good clean finite element mesh is critical for having an accurate flow analysis. The model cleaned up here will be used for several chapters.

Overview
The CAD file used as a starting point is an STL or Stereo-lithography file. This is a very common format for transferring data from a CAD program into a CAE program like MPI. The process of going from an STL file to a good mesh includes; 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Import the STL file into Synergy Generate an initial mesh on the STL model Run a mesh diagnostics report on the mesh Use mesh tools to fix any problems found Save the cleaned up mesh.

The procedure for importing an STL file is detailed in the following pages.

Importing a Model, page 17

Stereo-lithography (STL) model translation

A Stereo-lithography (STL) file is a tessellated representation of the surfaces of a solid, using triangles. STL was initially used in rapid prototyping and they can be in either ASCII or binary format. All major CAD/CAM systems can generate an STL file of a solid model. For more information, refer to the topic About importing STL model files in the MPI/Synergy on-line Help.

Note:

In this section, you will import the Plate.stl model, check the units that it is imported in, and mesh the model, assuring that a suitable mesh density and element edge length has been defined.

To import the Plate.stl model

1. 2. First, click Plate.mpi. and navigate to the mftrain\Plate folder and open the project file

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Click (File Import). Navigate to the mftrain\Plate folder. Depending on a check box in preferences the Import dialog with open in the correct location. Click on the file Plate.stl, and click Open. Accept the default mesh type of Fusion in the top drop-down list. There are no units specified for the model in the STL file. Click on the units dropdown list and view the units that the model could be imported in. Accept the default unit measurement of Inches, and take note of the approximate dimensions of the model listed under the units drop-down list. Click OK. Ensure the current units are inches. Use the command FilePreferences to verify and set the units if necessary.

Figure 9, STL model of the Plate

To mesh the model

1. Click (Mesh Generate Mesh) or, double-click on the mesh icon in the Study Tasks pane. Notice that a preview of the mesh density using the default options is displayed on the model. This allows you to predict the density of the mesh based on the current inputs. Click Advanced to view the advanced meshing options. The Edge Length advanced options allow you to specify the element global edge length, and the merge tolerance. The merge tolerance allows you to specify the minimum distance between nodes when meshing the model. 3. Click Mesh Control in the function pane on the left of the Mesh dialog. 4. Ensure Element reduction is selected. When meshing facet-based models, MPI frequently creates an initial mesh smaller that the desired mesh size. After this step, the mesh is processed in an iterative manner to try and remove nodes that will create a mesh with the specified edge length. The result is that removing the element reduction will create a more evenly distributed edge length mesh with the edge length based more on the model features rather then a mesh optimized to a flow analysis. 5. Click Edge Length in the function pane to the left. 6. Enter 0.120 (in) into the Enter global edge length field. 7. Click Preview. The model is updated with a mesh density preview using an element edge length of 0.150 in. 8. Click Mesh. 9. Click CTRL+L to open the layers dialog and deselect the node and STL layers. 10. Use the Model manipulation tools in the Viewer toolbar to investigate the mesh, including the radii. Notice that the Study Pane has been updated with the number of elements in the meshed model. An element edge length of 0.120 inches has created a mesh on this model with over 4600 elements. 11. Save the model with the command FileSave as and use the name Plate. 2.

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Figure 10, Meshed Plate

Checking the mesh

After a mesh has been created, it is important to visually inspect the mesh and run a mesh statistics. There must be a quality mesh if the analysis is to be accurate.

Visual Mesh Inspection

After meshing the part, it is a good idea to visually look at the part to see if there are any obvious problems. In Figure 11 there are two groups of red elements. These areas need closer attention because the mesh density is no the same as surrounding areas. This may indicate a problem and may suggest a finer mesh is necessary. Many times an STL file will be meshed at several densities before deciding on which on is best. Pay attention wall thickness changes. By rotating the part around you should be able to identify areas of the part that have significant thickness changes. It is best to have several rows of elements (at least 3) across a change in thickness. This will allow any hesitation or race tracking to be picked up by the analysis.

Figure 11, Visual mesh inspection

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Mesh Statistics
After visual inspection of the mesh, a utility called Mesh Statistics should be run. This will determine several important characteristics of the mesh so you can determine how good a mesh it is. Mesh Statistics are calculated using the command MeshMesh Statistics.

Figure 12, Mesh Statistics

There are several sections of the report each with properties. The table below summarizes the statistics.
Section / Property Entity Counts Surface Triangles Node Beams Connectivity Regions Edge Details Free Edges A free edge is an edge of a triangular element that does NOT touch any other element. There should be NO free elements in a fusion model, but there will be for midplane models An edge of a triangular element that is touching exactly one other element An edge of a triangular element that is touching two or more elements. A T shaped cross section is an example of a non-manifold edge. There should be NO non-manifold edges in a fusion model, but there will be for midplane models. The number of 3 noded triangular elements in the model The number of nodes in the model The number of 2 noded beam or 1D elements in the model. These are commonly used for runner modeling All the elements in the model must be connected together to form 1 body. IF the number is greater than one a problem exists Description

Manifold Edges Non Manifold Edge

Orientation Details Elements not oriented Orientation determines the side of the element. Many CAD packages call this the element normal. Some programs such as Cooling and Warpage have results that are side-to-side dependant so the orientation must be consistent. Moldflow uses the concept of top and bottom for orientation. For Fusion models, the top side must always be facing outward. You will never see the bottom side unless there is a problem.

Intersection Details Element Intersections Fully overlapping Elements An intersection is when a triangular element passes through the plane of another element. There must not be any element intersections in the model. An over lapping element is when two or more elements are in the same plane touches each other on the face of the elements. There must not be any element overlaps in the model. If there were two or more beam elements in the same space. There cant be any duplicate beams.

Duplicate Beams Surface Triangle Aspect Ratio Minimum Aspect Ratio Maximum Aspect Ratio

The aspect ratio is the longest side of the element over its height. This is the minimum value in the model. This value should be at maximum 6:1. This is very difficult with some models. If the highest aspect ratio is too high, it will cause analysis problems. This is particularly true with Cool and Warp. Keep aspect ratios as low as possible The average aspect ratio should be under 3:1. This is a quick indication that the mesh density should be reasonable.

Average Aspect Ratio Match Ratio Match Ratio

The mesh match ratio is an important number that applies only to fusion models. In a fusion model, an element on one side of the plastic wall thickness is paired or matched to an element on the other side. The higher the mesh match ratio the better. For warpage the number should be over 90%, for Flow it should be over 85%. Lower than that there could be problems with the accuracy with the results.

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Mesh Diagnostic Displays

Once the mesh statistics have been run, problems with meshes have been identified. For most parts, aspect ratio will be a problem and likely the only problem unless the STL or other translation file is corrupt. The next step is to locate the problems on the part so they can be fixed. Mesh Diagnostics is a series of dialogs for displaying various mesh problems. They include; Aspect ratio Overlapping elements Orientation Connectivity Free edges Thickness Occurrence number

Figure 13, Aspect ratio diagnostics All the diagnostics look similar to the aspect ratio display. This will be the most commonly used diagnostic. Normally when using the aspect ratio diagnostic, several things are done. The field with display in it is the field that controls the output. The default display will create a graphic result. The output can be changed to text so the output would be in a form similar to the statistics report. If the aspect ratio is very high, you may ask for a text display to see how many elements are above an aspect ratio of 6, or what ever is entered in the Minimum field. The check box called Place Results In Diagnostics Layer is very useful. In addition to displaying the elements graphically, the problem elements are put on their own layer so they can be seen separately from the rest of the part. This step is nearly always done.

Figure 14, Diagnostics Layer When only problem elements are in the Diagnostic Results layer, then neighboring elements can be displayed and put on the same layer with the Expand command. To use the expand command, highlight the Diagnostic Results layer then click the Expand button. After the expand command is run, one layer has only problem areas on the part and it becomes an easy job to fix the problems using Mesh Tools. Figure 15 is an example of an aspect ratio diagnostics output with the expand command used. The expand command will display all the elements touching the problem elements, or one level of elements, and all the nodes on the visible elements.

Tip:

The user defines the level of elements displayed. The default value is one.

Figure 15, Expanded Diagnostic Results

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Mesh Tools
When using Mesh tools there are many different commands that could be used. However, for most cleanup work, aspect ratios will be fixed. The most popular cleanup tools for aspect ratios and how they are used are below. Merge is by far the most widely used.

Mesh Tool Merge

Use The first node clicked is the node that will be kept. The second node will be merged into the first. Hold down the control key to select more than one node. Finish the command by hitting the Apply button or Right click to get to the context menu and select Apply there. This is generally faster. The Preserve Fusion prevents you from accidentally collapsing the model. It is generally best to leave it on. When nodes are merged necessary elements are deleted. Click on two elements that share an edge. The elements switch their order. Most of the time the check box Allow remesh of features should be checked. Click on two nodes that form an edge of an element the elements will be split and a new node is created. This command moves nodes to a line. The first two nodes clicked form the line definition. The nodes clicked after that are the nodes moved to the line.

Swap Edge

Insert

Align

When using the tools, the yellow field is the active field. In most cases there is an intelligent active field jumping, so when one field is filled the active field changes to the next field. Below is a table describing the popular use of the tools.

Figure 16, Mesh Tools

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Fix the Plate Model Mesh

In this section, you will check the mesh on the Plate model, and then make any required corrections to the mesh model to ensure that it is suitable for analysis.

Visually inspect the mesh

1. 2. Ensure the STL and Node layers are off. Rotate the part around, zoom in and out if necessary and look for obvious mesh problems. Concentrate on radii, thickness transitions ribs etc., and any area where the mesh density may need to change. Mentally note any areas of the part the mesh does not look good. A mesh diagnostic may or may not pick that area up depending on the problem. A decision can be made later if the mesh needs to be fixed.

3.

Run a Mesh Statistics Report

1. 2. 3. Use the command MeshMesh Statistics to start the report. The report will take a few seconds to minutes to finish depending on the size of the model. When the report is finished, review the report. Note the only problem with the statistics report is the Maximum Aspect Ratio is over 10:1. While this in not bad, the maximum should be under 6:1

Plot the Aspect Ratio Mesh Diagnostics

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Use the command MeshAspect Ratio to open the Aspect ratio dialog. Change the Minimum field to 6 Check the Place Results On Diagnostics Layer check box. Click Show. In the status line of the Aspect ratio dialog it should indicate 10 elements were plotted. Rotate the model to view the high aspect ratio elements. Open the Layers dialog with a Ctrl+L if necessary. Turn off the elements layer. Click on the Diagnostics results layer name to highlight the layer. Click the Expand button. The elements around the high aspect ratio elements will be displayed.

Figure 17, Aspect ratio display with expanded elements

Use Mesh Tools to fix the mesh

Fix the first problem

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Open the Mesh Tools dialog with a CTRL+T. Rotate the model around to look at the problem areas. Find the element with the red line sticking out normal to the element. Center and zoom up on the area. Rotate the model around to help understand the problem. An easy way to zoom up on an area and make it easy to work on is use the Center command, . Then use the Dynamic zoom command . This will quickly magnify to the desired area. The Center command will ensure that when magnified on an area and the part is rotated it will not rotate off the screen. To make it easy to use the Center and Dynamic zoom commands program the mouse to those commands. 6. If necessary, turn on the Triangles layer to see the entire part.

Tip:

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Figure 18, Highest Aspect ratio triangle 7. Notice how the problem element, (in yellow with a red line normal to the element) in Figure 18. There are several approaches that could be used to fix the problem. These include merging the two closest nodes on the high aspect ratio element, or aligning nodes. In this case the problem is about at a tangent of a radius so aligning nodes will make the tangent better.

Figure 19, Align nodes 8. Click on the Align tool in the Mesh Tools dialog. 9. Click on node 1, then node 2 in Figure 19. This forms the definition of the line. 10. Click and hold the Ctrl key then click nodes 3 and 4. Holding the control key will allow both nodes to be selected. 10. Click Apply.

Figure 20, After aligning nodes

Fix the next problem

1. 2. 3. Click the Fit to Window icon . Center and zoom on the element with the highest aspect ratio. It will have a red line normal to the element. Notice that merging nodes can solve this problem. See Figure 21.

Figure 21, Nodes to be merged 4. 5. 6. Click on the Merge tool on the Mesh Tools dialog. Click on the two closest nodes on the high aspect ratio element Click on Apply.

Continue to fix problems

1. 2. 3. Fit the model to the screen. Look for anew area to fix. Use the mesh tools as necessary to fix the problem

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A problem that will need to be fixed is shown below. It is an inside corner of a radius. The best way to fix is to Insert a node, then swap elements.

Figure 22, Radius

Figure 23, After inserting a node

Figure 24, After swapping elements

Check of mistakes
1. 2. Once all the high aspect ratio elements are cleaned up run a mesh diagnostics again. Ensure that there are no problems with the mesh. Pay particular attention to the mesh orientation. Many times in fixing problems the mesh orientation will be messed up. Use the command MeshOrient All to fix the problem.

Move nodes and elements back to the original locations.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Click OFF the Nodes and Triangles layers. Ensure the Diagnostics Results layer is ON. Ensure the Mesh tools dialog is closed. Use the command EditSelect By, or Ctrl + B. Note the Entity type Node is highlighted. Click OK. All the nodes on the Diagnostics Results layer are selected. On the Layers dialog click on to highlight the nodes layer. Click the Assign button. Click on the Triangles layer to highlight it. Click the Make Active button. The triangles layer will now become bold text. Click on the Diagnostics Results layer to highlight it. Click the Delete button. Click Yes on the dialog and asked you if the entities should be moved to the active layer.

The Diagnostics layer no longer exists and the nodes are back on the nodes layer and the triangles are back on the triangles layer.

Save the model

1. Use the FileSave command to save the editing done to fix the mesh.

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