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Compression Molding
Defining plastic part properties
Categorize your plastic part components and define their materials to allow the SimForm app solver to identify them.
Define a new plastic material
Define and add custom materials for plastic part components to evaluate the thermal performance of different materials.

Compression Molding
- Compression molding overview
  Use SimForm to perform a thermal cooling analysis for your plastic compression mold designs. These analyses help you identify hot spots on the plastic part and develop cooling layouts to improve the part quality and reduce cycle times.
- Setting up a simulation workflow
  You can set up and run a SimForm project by uploading your CAD file, categorizing components, selecting materials, and running simulations.
- Navigating the app interface
  The SimForm interface allows you to create and access projects and jobs, as well as add and manage users and account credits.
- Using projects and jobs
  Use projects and jobs in SimForm to manage and organize your mold design tests.
- Setting up a simulation
  Use the setup page to categorize and define your model components properties for the solver to identify them.
- Defining mold properties
  Defining mold properties based on your analysis type ensures that the SimForm solver correctly identifies the mold components in your CAD model and considers their material properties in the thermal analysis.
- Defining plastic part properties
  Categorize your plastic part components and define their materials to allow the SimForm app solver to identify them.
  - Define plastic part properties
    You must categorize your plastic part components and define their materials to allow the SimForm app solver to identify them.
  - Custom Part Material options
    The custom part material window lets you define a new plastic part material in your job.
  - Define a new plastic material
    Define and add custom materials for plastic part components to evaluate the thermal performance of different materials.
- Defining cooling channels
  In design projects, if your model contains cooling channels, you must define the components that represent them so the solver can identify them.
- Running a simulation
  When running a simulation, the solver relies on specific assumptions and automated processes to ensure accurate and efficient results.
- Viewing results
  The results page allows you to view and explore the thermal analysis results of your job after its simulation is completed.
- Tutorials
  These examples are designed to help you become familiar with some of the major features available in SimForm.
- Glossary

Define a new plastic material

Define and add custom materials for plastic part components to evaluate the thermal performance of different materials.

A job with an uploaded plastic part design.

In the Plastic Part card, expand the Select Material list.
Click Add material .
You can create a new material or use Copy from Mold Material to copy one from the existing material list to modify it.
In the Custom material window, in the Name box, type the new material name to identify it, for example, Polyphenylene oxide.
In the Density box, type the material density in kg/m³, for example, 1100.
In the Thermal conductivity box, type the material thermal conductivity in W/(m°C), for example, 0.2.
In the Specific heat box, type the material specific heat in J/(kg°C), for example, 1300.
In the Temperature box, type the temperature of the molten plastic at injection in °C, for example, 100.
In the Ejection temperature box, type the temperature at which the plastic solidifies in °C, for example, 60.
In the Mold temperature box, type the temperature of the mold cavity in °C, for example, 30.
Click Create to add the custom material to the list.
The created material is added to the material list. You can use edit to modify it or delete to remove it from the list.

The added materials are available for selection in all future projects from your account and all added users within your company account.