Press Release

Virtual Production of Challenging Molded Products

SIGMASOFT® Virtual Molding gives unmatched insight and helps avoiding production problems

Between April 26th and 27th the conference Kunststoffe + Simulation 2016 took place. SIGMA

Engineering GmbH partnered with Momentive Performance Materials and CVA Silicone to

explain the virtual and real production of the design article Ursula. SIGMASOFT® Virtual

Molding helped to understand problems in the material selection process and to make sound

decisions for the part production.

Figure 1 – SIGMASOFT® Virtual Molding accurately predicts the flowability and curing kinetics of LSR components, also for complicated geometries and extensive flow lengths

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Contact: B.Sc. Vanessa Schwittayv.schwittay@sigmasoft.de+49-241-89495-0Kackertstr. 11D-52072 – Aachen

Virtual Production of Challenging Molded Products

Aachen, May 3rd 2016 – As it is already tradition, SIGMA Engineering took part in the

conference “Kunststoffe + Simulation 2016” (Plastics + Simulation 2016) organized by

Hanser Verlag. This event, which gathers its attendees to discuss application trends and new

developments in plastics simulation, proved to be the perfect scenario to demonstrate the

capabilities of its SIGMASOFT® Virtual Molding technology in supporting mold design and

optimizing production conditions.

Partnering with Momentive Performance Materials and CVA Silicone, SIGMA Engineering

gave a presentation on the topic “Reality and Simulation – Physical and Virtual Production of

Ursula”. The presentation demonstrated how SIGMASOFT® was used to support the material

selection of the design article “Ursula”, an LSR mesh to carry bottles.

The article, named after Ursula Andress (the first bond Girl), has a long flow length and an

interlaced geometry. These characteristics require a material with high stability in rheological

properties and curing kinetics, as well as an elaborate tempering and cold runner concept.

SIGMASOFT® Virtual Molding was used to select the best material for this application. Two

LSR 70 Shore A grades where compared. It was observed that the flowability of the first

material was lower, so that only 90% of the cavity was filled. The second grade in

comparison, allowed a 100% of filling. Thus the Silopren LSR 2670, from Momentive, was

selected for production. The analysis of the curing degree during part filling revealed the

reason for the different behavior: The first material showed a curing degree of over 15%

already during filling, what impaired a proper flow; the second cured below 5% during filling,

allowing a smooth filling.

The example demonstrated how SIGMASOFT® Virtual Molding can be used to support the

mold and process design from the very project beginning. Besides optimizing geometries and

process parameters, it helps to make sound decisions for the material selection, and

furthermore can help to understand challenges for existing processes and to verify potential

solutions.

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Figure 2 – The Mesh Ursula, designed to carry bottles, posed several technical challenges due to its significant flow length. Copyright © 2015 Momentive Performance Materials Inc. (left) and CVA Silicone, part of the CVA Technology Pure Silicone Group, (right). All rights reserved.

SIGMA® (www.sigmasoft.de) is 100% owned by MAGMA® (www.magmasoft.de), the world market leader in casting process simulation technology based in Aachen, Germany. Our SIGMASOFT® Virtual Molding technology optimizes the manufacturing process for injection molded plastic components. SIGMASOFT® Virtual Molding combines the 3D geometry of the parts and runners with the complete mold assembly and temperature control system and incorporates the actual production process to develop a turnkey injection mold with an optimized process.

At SIGMA® and MAGMA®, our goal is to help our customers achieve required part quality during the first trial. The two product lines – injection molded polymers and metal castings – share the same 3D simulation technologies focused on the simultaneous optimization of design and process. SIGMASOFT® Virtual Molding thus includes a variety of process-specific models and 3D simulation methods developed, validated and constantly improved for over 25 years. A process-driven simulation tool, SIGMASOFT® Virtual Molding provides a tremendous benefit to production facilities. Imagine your business when every mold you build produces required quality the first time, every time. That is our goal. This technology cannot be compared to any other simulation approach employed in plastics injection molding.

New product success requires a different communication between designs, materials, and processes that design simulation is not meant for. SIGMASOFT® Virtual Molding provides this communication. SIGMA® support engineers, with 450 years of combined technical education and practical experience, can support your engineering goals with applications specific solutions. SIGMA® offers direct sales, engineering, training, implementation, and support, by plastics engineers worldwide.

This press information is available to download as pdf and doc format under the following link: www.sigmasoft.de/press

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