by Chris Blake
Simulation of the injection molding process is often left to the end of the mold design phase, as it is typically a complicated and lengthy endeavour. If the expertise is in house, simulation specialists are often very busy tackling multiple designs in the business pipeline. If simulations are outsourced, there is an inherent delay due to knowledge transfer and the availability of consultants, not to mention the raw computational time.
Simulations are often mandated by the OEM, and so injection molders and mold makers must bite the bullet, and absorb the analysis effort into their plans. But what if simulation was accessible, affordable and fast enough that analyses could be conducted as the plastic part or as the mold is being designed? What if simulation could actually inform the design on the fly? This is the essence of Easy Mold Cooling Prediction with SimForm. And now, thanks to a tighter integration with the mold design software XMD, developed by Synergetic Engineering, simulation driven design workflows are that much more convenient.
Co-development through partnership
Since announcing their partnership, Maya HTT - the company behind SimForm - and XMD have worked jointly to develop an integration between their tools. Now, with the 2025 release of XMD, users have access to the “SimForm Cooling Analysis” button, which produces an upload file ready to be brought into SimForm. Waterline circuits are interactively and automatically labelled for IN/OUT, and coloured for better visualization. Users can elect to export just the mold components in proximity to the plastic part, or the entire mold assembly for a more complete experience in SimForm.
The upload file contains all relevant geometric data as well as the complete definition of the SimForm job. That means that once ingested into SimForm, the user need do nothing else than click on Solve.
As of release 2024.12 of SimForm, the “Import Job” command is accessible when creating a new simulation job. After selecting the upload file produced by XMD, the geometric data is read, categorized and assigned the correct mold materials; the parts are assigned the correct resin; and the cooling channels, including baffles, inlets, and outlets, are fully defined. With one click, the entire SimForm job is ready to solve.
Explore the possibilities
By further reducing the effort needed to build a simulation model, the integration between SimForm and XMD allows designers to quickly test out different mold cooling concepts, like rerouting channels, adding baffles, introducing a copper alloy insert, or analyzing the cost-benefit of 3D-printed conformal cooling channels.
To know more about conformal cooling channels and especially the return on investment, please visit our ROI Calculator.
Access to thermal simulation earlier in the process means the mold designer can quickly and easily understand the impact of the choice of actions and mechanisms on the cooling time and part quality, leading to an overall improved mold design, and a reduction in engineering cost.
Future considerations
As this partnership continues, the intention is to further enhance and accelerate mold design iterations, so that mold makers continue to respond to the increasing requirements and accelerated timelines from the market. Exchanging incremental changes to the design from XMD is one low hanging fruit, while returning design recommendations back from SimForm will close the collaborative loop. Both companies look forward to seeing how the relationship will elevate the opportunities for the mold design community.
