Approximately a third of all plastics are processed into industrial products by injection moulding. Injection moulding is a process in which melted thermoplastic resin material is under pressure injected into a cavity which gives the product the desired shape. Both, the qualitative properties of these injection-moulded parts and the efficiency of the production process are strongly dependent on the processing conditions.

Designers and moulding experts are aiming already in the design phase of new products at a high product quality and a fast market launch with a purposeful design process.

ASD GmbH is able to support this process by predicting the moulding process using special simulation programmes. Thus, a detailed basis for optimizing the filling pattern in advance of the actual prototype production is provided. In principle, the position and shape of the runner system, ingoing mass and tool temperature, including the cooling system as well as rheological and thermodynamic data are taken into account.

As a result, comprehensive information is available on the localization of air inclusions and flow lines, on component warping, flow paths, pressure gradients, shear rates and mass temperature as well as on the occurrence of "short shots". Flow path optimization can be simulated promptly by the adaptation of the runner and cooling systems as well as by the variation of the processing conditions and intelligent material selection. Graphical animations showing, for example, the transient progress of the flow front provide direct insights into the moulding process. In addition, effects of design changes can be predicted very efficiently using such injection moulding simulation. By integrating the moulding simulation results into a separate finite element analysis, it is possible to incorporate thermal residual stresses, generated by the moulding, into the calculation of the mechanical properties of the component. Information on anisotropic mechanical material behavior which results, for example, from the alignment of fiber fillings can also be determined both, for the injection moulding process and for the mechanical analysis of the component.