Optimizing Design Is Hard Enough—What Can You Do About Cosmetics Issues

Sometimes after optimizing a design for manufacturing, unexpected issues can occur. This was the situation with a recent case. An existing design had issues with excessive pressure, flash, and sink. The apparent root cause was a premature freeze off. Design iterations were analyzed and a particular option was used and was thought to have solved the issue. However, after the initial success the manufacturing process started to create cosmetic issues. Cosmetic defects can be much more challenging to troubleshoot. This presentation describes this case study, some old techniques, and recently added capabilities ( Moldflow Insight 2016 software), such as path lines.