New Features for 2021.0

The following features are new with this release:

Reactive Microcellular Injection Molding

Reactive Microcellular Injection Molding is a process where injection molding is done using a single-phase solution of polymer and supercritical fluid (SCF). Once this polymer solution is in the cavity and no longer pressurized, the supercritical fluid can come out of solution and form very small gas bubbles. The process of gas bubble growth is not instantaneous and ceases once the polymer becomes solid. This process is similar to the Thermoplastcs Microcellular Injection Molding process. The difference is that the material is thermoset. This process is supported for the 3D mesh type.

Chemical Foam Molding

In this process, typically, a small amount of resin is initially dispensed into the cavity. The remaining cavity volume is then filled by a foaming process occurring in the resin. The foaming gas is generated by a chemical reaction occurring during the molding process. The reaction process that generates this foaming gas is considered during the simulation. Polyurethane (PU) foam molding is the most common example of chemical foam molding. Chemical foam molding is supported for the 3D mesh type.

Note: It is recommneded that "Generic PU foaming material" is selected from the database as the molding material for this process.

Retractable Core Constraints

When assigning constraints on cores or part-inserts for a core-shift calculation, it is now possible to specify a retraction time for the constraint, after which the constraint will no longer have an effect. This feature can be used to describe core support pins which are retracted during the molding process. The retraction time can be set either when creating the constraint or by editing an existing constraint. The check-box to mark the constraint as retractable is only visible when the Use constraint in: option has been set to Core-shift Analysis.

User interface and workflow enhancements 2021.0

A great deal of effort goes into improving the user interface and workflow for each release, based on feedback from you, our customers.

Each year we send out surveys, release beta builds and encourage you to tell us about your experience so we can make it more enjoyable. We encourage you to let us know, via social media, product forums, surveys, or support, how we can help make your experience even better.

CAD supported platform updates

The following CAD file formats are now also supported.

• Alias 2020

• Autodesk Shape Manager 226

• CATIA 6R2020

• CATIA 6R2020 Assembly

• CreoTM Parametric 7.0

• Inventor 2021

• Inventor 2021 Assembly

• Parasolid® V32

• Rhino 6.0

• SolidWorks 2020

Solver Enhancements for 2021.0

Enhancements have been implemented to improve the performance of analysis solvers, and to provide you with better solutions.

Decompostion of Polymer Matrix Properties

The Midplane and Dual-domain flow solvers now calculate similar polymer matrix properties for fiber-filled materials to those calculated by the 3D flow solver, as a result of a change to the polymer matrix mechanical property decomposition. The polymer matrix mechanical properties reported in the material data are also correspondingly changed. This change has only minimal impact on the warp predictions of deflected part shape.

Calculation of Composite Properties

The accuracy of micromechanics models, which are applied to calculate the composite properties, has been improved. The improvements have some small impact on the predictions of composite properties and the subsequent warp predictions of deflected part shape, for all composite materials filled with fibers or disk-like fillers.

Improved Handling of Semi-Crystalline Materials in 3D

The accuracy of 3D Warp predictions is improved for semi-crystalline polymer materials by an improved consideration of the crystallization effects at solidification. This improvement does not require any additional material data and is applied for all semi-crystalline polymers. This effect will increase the magnitude of volumetric shrinkage and 3D Warp deflections. It will also influence cavity pressure decay predictions. The same crystallization consideration has already been included in the Midplane and Dual-Domain solvers for many years. This improvement to the 3D solvers reduces the difference in deflection prediction seen between different mesh types.

Sink-Marks Prediction Improvement for 3D Mesh

The sink-marks prediction for 3D models has been improved. It generally predicts the location of the sink marks more accurately compared to previous releases. It can now predict sink-marks even in general 3D geometry, including those areas which do not have a traditional rib structure.

Addition of Automatic Option for Pack/Holding Control

An “Automatic” option is added for pack/holding control. When this option is chosen, the solver will automatically determine the magnitude and duration of the packing pressure profile, with the objective of achieving a reasonably low level of shrinkage while remaining within process and machine limits. A constant pressure is used during packing. The automatic packing control is intended as a typical setting for users who are not yet sure of the actual process conditions to be used during molding. It is not expected to be the optimized process setting.

This is implemented for thermoplastic material processes (such as thermoplastics injection molding) for mid-plane, dual-domain and 3D meshes.

Enhancements to Barrel Effect Calculation

The calculation of barrel effect in the Midplane and Dual-domain (2.5D) flow solvers has been enhanced to achieve better consistency for filled volume predictions between 2.5D and 3D flow solvers.

Mold Cooling Solver Internal Precision

The numerical precision of the standard Cool (Boundary Element Method) solver has been enhanced. This will improve the numerical convergence of mold temperature results in areas where the cooling circuits are very close to the part surface or mold surface. This improved precision can for some study files cause an increase in the number of iterations required to achieve a converged solution. For such models, computation time will be increased.

3D Weld Surface Prediction

3D analysis now predicts more complete and continuous weld surfaces on meshes with a good quality. Extreme mesh refinement or small time-step is not required for the prediction of continuous weld surfaces, but they may help eliminate false predictions in some cases. When the option of “Weld surface strength analysis” is enabled, the computational time and memory usage during the flow analysis and the size of the interface file (.ws3) for structural analysis may increase significantly.

New Solver API Capabilities

1. Solver API utility functions for retrieving Material ID and Material Name in 3D Flow and 3D Warp have been included.

2. Solver API utility functions to retrieve user API options that have been set for 3D Flow and 3D Warp have been added.

3. Filler volume concentration percentage results can now be accessed using the FillerConcentration keyword with the SolverUtilityHb3dGetNodeScalarResult() and SolverUtilityHb3dGetNodeFieldResults() utility functions.

4. Solver API utility functions and user functions have been provided to enable user node field variables for user-defined advection equations in the 3D Flow solver.

5. Solver API user functions can be used to set the user-specified fiber orientation tensor at each node during the 3D flow analysis.

6. Solver API utility functions and user functions have been included for user-coded control of injection conditions and time step duration in the 3D Flow solver.

Note: You can find detailed documentation of all the user and utility functions in the Solver API Reference located in the help menu in Synergy.

Enhancements to Powder/Fiber Concentration Solver

Improvements have been made in the powder/fiber migration solver to increase the accuracy of predictions and reduce the occurrence of spurious results.

An additional warning message has been added to indicate when the concentration calculation has diverged at a particular time-step. In such time-steps, the update of concentration values is supressed, and the previous values are carried forward unchanged. If this divergence warning is seen for many time-steps, it indicates that the prediction of concentration may have a large error. The error would be minor if the divergence warning is seen for a few time-steps.

Add Ram Position to Screen Log

This enhancement applies to Fill or Flow analyses with "Absolute ram speed profile" control and contains 2 aspects:

1. For 3D flow solver, add ram position to screen log for both Filling and Packing phases

2. For the Midplane and Dual-domain (2.5D) flow solvers, calculate and output ram position to screen log for Packing phase (ram position is already included in screen log for Filling phase in previous releases).

Another benefit of this enhancement is that valve gate control by ram position can now be extended into packing phase.

Profiled Result Output is On By Default

For the Midplane and Dual-domain (2.5D) flow solvers, the "Profiled result" output (Advanced options > Solver parameters > Intermediate output) is now turned on by default with the default "Number of profiled results" set to 20. This change will allow users to compare detailed results (e.g. temperature) from 2.5D analysis with corresponding results from 3D analysis.

Mesh aggregation option for buckling analyses

The mesh aggregation option for 3D warpage calculation, which transforms the original mesh into a coarser one, is now supported for the buckling analysis type.

The computation time for a 3D buckling analysis is significantly reduced when the Use mesh aggregation option is enabled, while still producing a result similar to that of an analysis without mesh aggregation. As a result, the Use mesh aggregation option is on by default.

Note: Stress results are only available when mesh aggregation is turned off.

Limitations

• The mesh aggregation option is good for typical thin-walled parts, but is not recommended for chunky parts.

Basic workflow to disable this feature

1. Click  (Home tab > Molding Process Setup panel > Analysis Sequence) and choose a sequence that includes Warp.

2. Click  (Home tab > Molding Process Setup > Process Settings).

3. If necessary, click Next until you reach the Warp Settings page.

4. Set the Warpage analysis type to Buckling.

5. Deselect Use mesh aggregation.

Mesh enhancements for 2021.0

This release incorporates enhancements to the way a model is meshed, that improve the workflow.

Surface meshing of curved surfaces

Improvements have been made to the surface meshing of curved surfaces to reduce the incidence of high aspect ratio elements. This can improve the quality of both Dual-Domain and 3D analyses.

Single leg model of baffle or bubbler cooling lines

Meshing of baffle or bubbler cooling lines, modeled with a single curve, now creates a second curve to match the two sets of beam elements created. This enhancement eliminates the warning message about a missing curve observed during mold boundary preparation for Cool (FEM).

Material Database Changes in 2021.0

Ongoing internal testing, and changing material supplier offerings, require the material database to be continuously updated.

This page is accurate at the time of publication. For any final change, see the Autodesk_Moldflow_2021_material_changes.pdf, this is available to download here.

• New suppliers added: 44

• Suppliers deleted: 24

• Total number of grades: 11536

• Grades added: 690

• Grades amended: 633

• Grades deleted: 144

• Specific data:

• Grades with long-fiber length data: 164

• Grades with specific Crystallization Morphology data: 37

• Grades with default Shrinkage Properties data: 4498

• Grades with Stress/Strain data: 623

New job management system for 2021.0

Moldflow 2021 uses a new job management system known as the Simulation Compute Manager (SCM).

New analysis launch dialog

You can invoke the launch dialog by launching an analysis from Synergy. The dialog allows you to manage the destination queues to which you may submit your job. By default, options to submit the job on local host or to send the job to the cloud are available. If Moldflow Insight is installed on other machines on the local network, you can add these as additional queues where jobs may be sent from the launch dialog.

New web based Job Viewer

Monitor the status of your jobs using the new web based Job Viewer. To access the Job Viewer, click the Job Manager button from the ribbon , to launch it in your default web browser. In the Job Viewer, you can see the status of jobs submitted in the past 30 days. You can also access the solver logs from the Job Viewer by pressing View Log.