Crashworthiness Through Injection Molding

Account for fiber orientation and weld lines before they show up in a failed crash test

For short fiber-reinforced thermoplastic parts, the molding process decides mechanical behavior. Fiber orientation raises stiffness and strength along the flow direction. Weld lines cut strength and energy absorption sharply. Assume isotropic properties and the simulation will not match the test.

This ebook details a manufacturing-aware process chain. ANSA maps fiber orientation and weld-line locations from Moldflow, Moldex3D, or CADMOULD onto your FE mesh. The MF GenYld+CrachFEM model from MATFEM captures the anisotropic behavior. META post-processes the result. Because ANSA is solver-neutral, the same chain couples to LS-DYNA, Abaqus explicit, PamCrash, and Radioss.

Inside the ebook:

• ANSA's Results Mapper transfers fiber orientation and weld-line data across differing molding and structural meshes
• The ANSA one-step molding solver runs on your FE mesh for early design, skipping the mapping step
• The dedicated weld-lines tool transfers meeting-angle data, interpolates 3D lines, and filters molding-simulation noise
• A single CrachFEM material card handles orthotropic yield, tension-compression asymmetry, strain-rate effects, fracture, and weld-line knock-down factors
• A worked hat-profile case under 3-point bending quantifies the gain from aligned fibers and the loss from a centered weld line

Who it's for: crash, safety, and durability CAE engineers working with reinforced plastics, and the managers standardizing the process.