SIMTEQ Newsletter May 2022

Introduction
events
Product of the month
The art of engineering
New releases
Training

From go-carts to space and everything in between, we cover it in this month’s newsletter.

As you’ll notice, our newsletter has taken on a new format as we strive to make it more compact to scan while making more information accessible on the topics that interest you. Please let us know if this is worth the effort and if we can make it even better. We value your feedback and always strive to keep our customers as informed as possible on all the latest developments.

As promised at last year’s Users’ Conference, we held our first customer appreciation event by taking 7 lucky customers on a fun-filled Go-kart experience. The racers battled it out till the end but fortunately, the day ended with only big smiles and dirty shirts with no (serious) injuries or bruised egos. Don’t miss out on your chance to be next by attending the SIMTEQ Users’ Conference this August.

Our product of the month is Moldex3D which is a must-have for any injection moulded part development while also covering other manufacturing processes like Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM) and many more. We will also host a special Moldex3D Tech-Day on the 15th of June for those interested in the solution.

That is of course not the only event to take note of since we’ll continue the topic of contact in the next web session on the 3rd of June as well as cover all the ways to save time preparing FE models using MSC Apex in the workshop hosted at SIMTEQ on the 29th of June.

And did I mention space? Yes, we share this novel idea of literally throwing things into space, in this month’s Art of Engineering section. Do you think they will overcome the next batch of engineering challenges they face? Well, they got this far...

Also, don’t forget to check what is new in every product released so far this quarter in the What’s New section. The list is long and might just solve a problem you had or make something easier or quicker for you than before. Don’t miss any opportunity to work smarter or do more with less.

The month of June is also focused on CAEfatigue. If you need to conduct fatigue life calculations from test or FE results, look no further than the weekly Wednesday fatigue webinars on our events and training calendar: Training & Events - SIMTEQ Engineering

Hope to see or hear from you at one of the upcoming events or training!

Regards
Managing Director

Upcoming Events

SIMTEQ Engineering Webinar

Contact and Everything That you Need to Know About it

3 June 2022
11:30-12:30

SIMTEQ Engineering Webinar

Registration

Moldex3D Tech-Day

Expand on your plastic injection molding knowledge

15 June 2022
09:30-15:00

MSC APEX Workshop

Everything you need to know before applying boundary conditions and loads

29 June 2022
8:30-16:00

SIMTEQ Engineering Users' Conference

17 August 2022
8:30-17:00

SIMTEQ Engineering Users' Conference

More Information & Registration

In case you missed it

I don’t need therapy, I only need a kart and Apex

We all have our release valves and our way to stay (semi-) sane in this world of chaos and change. We all have our bucket list items or fun activities we never get to put into action. Hence SIMTEQ Engineering’s initiative to combine our “Customer Appreciation Day” with a Go-kart track!

The competitors were selected from a lucky draw from the SIMTEQ Users’ Conference 2021. A selected number of clients and conference attendees had the chance to show their skills against one another on track. The competition was fierce, though the fun had the upper hand. There were even a few “friendly fire” incidents between the SIMTEQ “teammates”…

The day was a huge success and SIMTEQ is considering making this an annual event open to all of our clients to socialize with fellow engineers and build healthy networks outside of the office environment. Watch this space and listen out to the announcements at this year’s User’s Conference!

Moldex3D

Moldex3D is a world-leading provider of plastics simulation solutions. Providing long-term solutions for customers to ensure efficiency and mould savings in the product design process. With Moldex3D you get the full range of flow simulation capabilities, decide ultimate gate locations, and eliminate weld lines and air traps with the filling behaviour prediction. In this product of the month, we will be looking at the best features Moldex3D has to offer.
1. Powerful pre-processing

A) High-Resolution 3D Mesh Technology (BLM)

  • Moldex3D supports auto mesh generation with more precise quality for model preparation, especially for complicated 3D geometry.
  • It enhances solver accuracy for viscous heating, pressure simulation, and warpage prediction.
  • Moldex3D supports tetra elements, boundary layer mesh (BLM), and robust non-matching technology.
  • It is accurate, precise, and efficient for advanced moulding processes

B) Efficient Technology for Runner Mesh Preparation

  • The runner mesh in Moldex3D is Hexa-based for better mesh resolution and simulation performance.
  • There are mixed type components (curve/geometry) supported in the runner system and joint formats for better mesh structure.
  • Moldex3D has a non-matching technology feature extended for complete mould base components analysis.

C) Full Mould base Non-matching Technology

  • The non-matching technology extended for complete mould base components analysis, includes Mould Insert, Mould Plate (Movable), and Mould Plate (Fixed).
  • In Moldex3D you can assign different mould plate materials individually and visualize the temperature of the parting plane.
  • You can reduce labour hours and difficulty in generating solid mould base mesh for better resolution and accurate prediction.

D) Meshing Features

  • Moldex3D Mesh – Moldex3D supports various solid meshing with element types of tetra and hybrid.
  • Hybrid Mesh Technology – You can create mesh manually for customized purposes. Increase the mesh resolutions significantly with an acceptable element count. Control uniform or biasing mesh patterns and element layer count in the thickness direction. This mesh technology is flexible, delicate, and accurate for complex geometry shapes.
2. Standard Injection Moulding Solutions

A) Filling

  • In Moldex3D, most potential problems are fixed during the simulation of the filling process. You can optimize the gate and runner design with minimum weld lines, air traps, burn marks, and short shot problems. Optimize the process conditions in the filling stage, such as injection time, melt temperature, etc.

B) Packing

  • Moldex3D can predict the gate freeze time and estimate the packing profile for the average pressure effect. Minimize sink marks and flash problems. During packing, you can predict the volumetric shrinkage and requirement of clamping force to minimize warpage control.

C) Cooling

  • Moldex3D supports cooling simulation with advanced analysis capabilities for mould and cooling circuit designs. This includes transient cooling, variotherm, conformal cooling, and 3D coolant CFD cooling simulations. You can control mould temperature variations to optimize cooling efficiency and minimize part warpage.

D) Warp

  • In the warpage process, Moldex3D allows you to validate part deformed ratio of shrinkage effect and identify warpage causes. You can evaluate fiber orientation, residual stress, and material viscoelasticity effects on warpage. Moldex3D provides flatness to evaluate the warpage of a surface plane and enhanced warp analysis to consider transient effects in the mould.

E) Multi-Component Moulding

  • In Moldex3D you can simulate insert moulding, over moulding, and multi-shot sequential moulding processes. Evaluate interactions of varied materials and consider the material properties to minimize the warpage and delamination. You can evaluate core deflection by unbalanced flow and detect potential re-melt issues.
3. Meet Growing Demands for Lightweight Composite Products

A) Fiber

  • Fiber orientation decides the product’s structural strength. Moldex3D supports complete predictions of fiber orientation, length, breakage, and concentration for short and long fiber-reinforced plastics. It supports flake orientation simulation and evaluates the strength of parts and weld line regions. Moldex3D also provides the validations of product dimensional stability and the resistance to deformation.

B) Stress

  • With Moldex3D you get deformed behaviour validation for better structure of products. You can evaluate the mechanical properties and deformation behaviour under certain external loadings. Moldex3D supports core shift analysis of core deflection simulation with inserts and fluid interaction and annealing simulation with viscoelasticity.

C) Mechanics

  • In Moldex3D you can analyze and predict the structural mechanics of the product during the manufacturing process. You can simulate buckling analysis to calculate each buckling mode's eigenvalue and bucking shape.

D) FEA Interface

  • Moldex3D provides an interactive structural analysis integration with leading FEA software. Integrate with FEA software with different results format output; ANSYS, ABAQUS, LS-Dyna, MSC-Nastran, Marc, and Optistrcut. Modex3D supports direct data output and 3D results mapping for efficient structural performance validation.

E) Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM)

  • Moldex3D predicts the filling behaviour of Resin through Fiber Mat. It simulates the filling performance to the effects on different fiber mat types and orientations. Moldex3D predicts the filling behaviour in the thickness direction to find the cure reaction trend and optimal control of resin infusion. The RTM wizard with a seamless pre-processing workflow enables the direct settings of ply groups, boundary conditions, and ply material groups. Moldex3D supports the import of the draping result (LS-Dyna) into Moldex3D mesh for more accurate analysis validation under the draping effect.
4. Innovative Moulding Processes

A) Gas/Water-Assisted Injection Moulding (GAIM/WAIM)

  • Moldex3D provides 3D visualization of dynamic gas and fluid penetration. In Moldex3D you can determine polymer and gas entrance positions with proper injection time and injection volume of plastic and gas. The ability to optimize skin thickness and core-out ratio distribution to predict corner effect and blow though. Support push-back analysis in the full shot process to avoid the switchover mark and material waste.

B) Powder Injection Moulding (PIM)

  • Moldex3D provides freedom of shaping metal/ceramic parts. It can simulate the injection moulding stage in the process workflow. And you will be able to visualize the flow behaviour of feedstock. It provides a prediction of black lines due to phase separation of powder and binder.

C) Co-Injection Moulding (CoIM)

  • In this process, Moldex3D provides visualization of dynamic filling interactions of skin and core materials. It can optimize geometry thickness and process conditions based on blow-through prediction. It can identify temperature imbalance, and pressure resistance variations, and optimize shrinkage and warpage.

D) Bi-Injection Moulding (BiiM)

Moldex3D can define two independent melt entrances and process parameters for varied materials in this process. Visualize the two-melt front advancement and predict the potential weld lines to optimize gate design.

E) Compression Moulding (CM)

  • Moldex3D provides better control of the compression process. It allows for the control of the process variation after the compression to decide the charge design. Moldex3D can predict optimized compression conditions for the perfect shape of larger and intricate parts. It can simulate fiber length orientation to avoid degradation, bleeding, or flashing, and optimize product strength. Moldex3D can integrate with LS-Dyna for a more accurate compression moulding process from the solid deformation stage to the liquid filling stage.

F) Injection Compression Moulding (ICM)

  • A feature in Moldex3D provides enhanced replication for the parts with microstructures. Moldex3D can visualize property changes in the compression moulding process. Moldex3D provides support with VE and optics analysis for thin and flat products to optimize residual stress, shrinkage, and warpage.

G) Foam Injection Moulding (FIM)

  • In Moldex3D you can visualize the melt expansion behavior of polymer gas during the microcellular foaming process. Moldex3D also visualizes cell size and density distribution with consideration of cell nucleation and growth. There is an evaluation of the surface quality and bubble effect to reduce weight, tonnage, and shrinkage. Moldex3D has support for the core-back feature for a better understanding of gas volume fraction variation of cell distribution. For structural performance validation, Moldex3D provides cell size and density data output to Digimat.

H) Chemical Foaming Moulding (CFM)

  • In Moldex3D you can get bubble property validation under the chemical response. It can predict the bubble variation and density distribution under the chemical effects. It can also ensure a desired volume-to-weight ratio of the product.
Moldex3D Certification Program
Moldex3D certification levels of Analyst and Expert allow experienced CAE professionals to demonstrate and validate their knowledge of injection moulding, part design, and mould design with powerful Moldex3D software. After extensive training and an exam at the end of the training, the team from Multotec; pictured from left, Ryan Brady, Zelda Zonneveld, and Lean Pienaar all passed the Analyst certification course and were awarded the Analyst certificate. This will help the team to be able to demonstrate the necessary knowledge to validate the proper design of a product, the know-how to achieve the optimized filling, and the know-how to avoid defects resulting from the material, thickness, gate number, and gate locations.

Can Spinlaunch Throw Rockets Into Space?

Have you ever wondered if there is a better way to send a payload into space without strapping as much propellant as possible behind it and lighting a fuse? The minds behind Spinlaunch (https://www.spinlaunch.com/) contemplated that exact question and produced an ingenious solution. The first video shows their 8th flight test on their third scale model, that’s right, they have a working scale model! The second video is from Scott Manley, who dives deep into how the Spinlaunch concept works and some of the complications they still face.

Adams 2022.1

Adams 2022.1 is now available at the Software Download Center.

Click here to learn about What’s New in Adams 2022.1.

Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence announces the release of Adams 2022.1. The Adams 2022.1 release provides enhancements, including extensions to compute wind loads and improved support for trike and EV models.

Enhanced Cross Wind Support

Enhanced Trike Support

In-Wheel Electric Motor Template

Digimat 2022.1

Digimat 2022.1 is now available at the Software Download Center.

Click here to learn about What’s New in Digimat 2022.1.

Key highlights from this release include:

  • Improved simulation accuracy of SLS printing: Time-dependent boundary conditions can be introduced to take into account the evolution of thermal boundary conditions during the printing and cooling manufacturing steps.
  • Productivity enhancements in Digimat-AM: A streamlined interface makes additive manufacturing simulations accessible to every engineer, through simplified and traceable workflows steps, easier selection of TE and TVE material cards, advanced meshing monitoring, and many more.
  • Support for thermal-mechanical analysis types: This new analysis type reduces the work effort for the user as it replaces the thermal and mechanical simulation chain while accurately predicting the thermal influences on the mechanical performance of homogenous materials and composites reinforced with unidirectional continuous fibres.
  • Extending ease-of-use of Digimat-RP to CFRP: The robust, fast and easy interface of Digimat-RP has been opened up to also integrate unidirectional and woven composite materials in analyses where the fibre orientation has already been defined.
  • New failure criteria for thermal shock: An incremental formulation of the accumulated plastic strain failure criteria is now available and better suited to determine failure due to thermal shocks.
MSC CoSim 2022

MSC CoSim 2022 is now available at the Software Download Center.

Click here to learn about What’s New in MSC CoSim 2022.

Some of the highlights of this release include:

  • Cut-back support for Adams – Marc coupling
  • Virtual Mass for Adams – scFLOW coupling
  • More accurate mapping for Marc – scFLOW coupling
  • Several enhancements for MSC Nastran – scFLOW coupling
    • Tighter coupling for static Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI)
    • Initial displacement for FSI analyses
    • 1-way thermal load transfer
  • New Marc – scSTREAM coupling
Patran 2022.1

Patran 2022.1 is now available at the Software Download Center.

Click here to learn about What’s New in Patran 2022.1.

Some main highlights of this release include:

  • Flexible Glued Contact (Cohesive Glued Contact)
    • For engineers performing bolt analysis via the segment-to-segment contact method, Flexible Glued Contact now adds flexibility to the traditional glued contact option, which helps in modelling or simulating bolts through cohesive glued contact instead of physically modelling the bolts.
  • CFAST HDF5 Postprocessing
    • Patran now displays fastener forces and vector plots in the element coordinate system by default without changing the coordinate transformation in Plot Options.
  • Additional Defect Fixes
    • Results access now includes HDF5
    • BDF Import and CAD import fixes
    • GUI and Associated UI Framework improvements
    • Database fixes
Simufact Additive 2022

Simufact Additive 2022 is now available at the Software Download Center.

Click here to learn about What’s New in Simufact Additive 2022.

We are very pleased to inform you about the new software release of Simufact Additive 2022, that is now available in the Software Download Center.. The latest version of our additive manufacturing simulation solution comes with a new Nesting functionality that increases productivity and sustainability. Many enhancements within the new version provide more usability, efficiency and productivity for your additive manufacturing process simulation.

Look forward to the 5 Top New Features in Simufact Additive 2022:

  1. New 2D Nesting functionality – The new Nesting functionality allows our users to automatically nest single or multiple AM parts with just a few clicks to increase productivity and sustainability.
  2. Machining module enhancements – Simulation of multiple machined parts, which enables machining simulation of assemblies.
  3. Enhanced Metal Binder Jetting module – The setter removal stage has been implemented, which makes it possible to simulate the entire sintering process of Metal Binder Jetting.
  4. Support Generation enhancements – New enhancements allow for easier and faster creation of support structures with different support structure types as well as more flexibility and control over the generated supports.
  5. Further Improvements of Cost Estimation improvement – The new improvement enables a faster comparison of different part cost parameters.
VCollab 21.7

VCollab 21.7 is now available at the Software Download Center.

Some main highlights of this release include:

  • SimManager 2022.1 Support
    • VCollab 21.7 has now been validated to work seamlessly with SimManager 2022.1.
  • VCollab Presenter Enhancements
    • Legend Color Transparency Option – It is now possible to set any color to be transparent or opaque when viewing results.
    • Adams Simulation – VCollab now has full support for Adams simulation, including Flex, Rigid, and Co-Simulation options.
    • Legend Animation – CAE animation is now improved with a new mode of animation named Legend Animation. In this mode, in a given instance, a user can see the flow of legend internal values.
    • Anti Alias – Hardware based anti-alias techniques are now used for displaying the smooth geometry, which provides the user with a higher resolution rendering capability.
    • Application’s Inactive Timeout – The floating license is released to the license pool if the application is idle for a longer period. The default idle time is 2 hours, but users can configure this timeout to their desired length of time.  
  • VCollab/Pro Enhancements
    • Python API – New python NumPy based library is provided to access and operate on data. Also more APIs are exposed in the latest release of VCollab 21.7.
SIMTEQ Engineering Webinar
Contact and Everything That you Need to Know About it
3 June 2022
11:30 - 12:30

Contact and Everything
That you Need to Know About it

Registration
MSC Software Webinars
Acoustics Tech Week
13 - 17 June 2022
15:00 - 17:00

Acoustics Tech Week

More Information
Registration
The use of Machine Learning in Future Transport Safety Applications
20 July 2022
17:00 - 18:00

Machine Learning in Future Transport Safety Applications

More Information & Registration

CAEfatigue Series

General Introduction to CAEfatigue
1 June 2022
16:00 - 17:00

General Introduction to CAEfatigue

More Information & Registration

Name: Time Domain Analysis within CAEfatigue
Date and Time: 8 June 2022 16:00 - 17:00

Name: Frequency Domain Analysis within CAEfatigue
Date and Time: 15 June 2022 16:00 - 17:00

Name: Advanced Features I within CAEfatigue
Date and Time: 22 June 2022 16:00 - 17:00

Name: Advanced Features II within CAEfatigue
Date and Time: 29 June 2022 16:00 - 17:00

Name: CAEfatigue Interoperability with
other Hexagon Software
Date and Time: 08 July 2022 16:00 - 17:00

Moldex3D Webinars
What’s New in Moldex3D 2022
1 June 2022
10:00 - 11:00

What’s New in Moldex3D 2022

More Information & Registration
IC Packaging: Advanced Materials & Design Optimization
7 June 2022
19:15 - 22:15

IC Packaging: Advanced Materials & Design Optimization

More Information & Registration
Moldex3D 2022 Tips: Part 1 – Pre-processing & Post-processing
8 June 2022
10:00 - 11:00

Moldex3D 2022 Tips: Part 1 – Pre-processing & Post-processing

More Information & Registration
Machine Mode: Translating Real-World Processing Conditions
8 June 2022
20:30 - 21:30

Machine Mode: Translating Real-World Processing Conditions

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Moldex3D 2022 Tips: Part 2 – Pre-processing & Post-processing
29 June 2022
10:00 - 11:00

Moldex3D 2022 Tips: Part 2 – Pre-processing & Post-processing

More Information & Registration
Training

STU701 – Structural Mechanics

Price: R 6 650.00/p excl VAT (A 25% discount applies if attendance is online)

Date: 13-14 June 2022

Duration: 2 Days

CPD Accredited: Yes

More Information
Registration

FEA101 - Finite Element Analysis Fundamentals

Software Package: MSC Apex

Price: R 16 625.00/p excl VAT (A 25% discount applies if attendance is online)

Date: 4-8 July 2022

Duration: 5 Days

CPD Accredited: Yes

More Information
Registration

MAR101 - Marc Advanced Non-linear FEA

Software Package: Marc

Price: R 16 625.00/p excl VAT (A 25% discount applies if attendance is online)

Date: 1-5 August 2022

Duration: 5 Days

CPD Accredited: Yes

More Information
Registration

CRA251, 301 - Introduction to scFlow and scStream

Software Package: scStream & scFlow

Price: R 9 975.00/p excl VAT (A 25% discount applies if attendance is online)

Date: 12-14 September 2022

Duration: 3 Days

CPD Accredited: No

CRA251 Information
CRA301 Information
Registration
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