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Thermoforming

T-SIM – software package forsimulation of thermoforming.

T-SIM predicts the final wallthickness distribution basedon the specified processingparameters (pressure level,speed of tools, sheettemperature distributionetc.).

T-SIM predicts imagedistortion and pre-distortionfor inmold decorationprocess.

COMPUTER SIMULATION OF THERMOFORMING

T-SIM used as a web prediction toolReal and simulated web locations Tools in T-SIM

Europe:AccuformJetelova 582Zlin-Stipa 763 14Czech Republic Tel./fax: (+420) 603 261 957E-mail: info@t-sim.com WWW: www.t-sim.com

North America:Compuplast Canada Inc.5333 Forest Hill DriveMississauga, Ontario L5M 5A7Canada Tel: +1 (905) 814 8923 Fax: +1 (905) 814 8924E-mail: info@compuplast.caWWW: www.compuplast.ca

T-SIM plug final height influence analysisFinal product Tools in T-SIM Final thickness distribution – detail

Simulated thickness profiles for Comparison of the final thicknessvarious final plug position profiles (simulated and real values)

World’s leading company in FEA of thermoforming, blow molding,

in mold decoration and “shrink sleeve” processes

Real tool photo

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Computer simulation of thermoforming

T-SIMAbout AccuformAccuform has been active in the FEA (Finite ElementsAnalysis) field of thermoforming for more than ten years.Accuform developed T-SIM, thermoforming simulationsoftware. Accuform sells the software through a networkof representatives. Accuform also provides support, serviceand consultations. Accuform products are being used by many of the world'sleading thermoforming equipment manufactures as a partof their daily design procedures. Resin suppliers use ourproducts for technical service assistance and as trainingtools. Processors around the world use our products andservices for troubleshooting, equipment evaluation andthe development of proprietary designs. Our commitmentto product quality and our knowledgeable support staffhave made Accuform products and services the choice ofthe thermoforming industry.

T-SIM DevelopmentA consortium of eleven European thermoforming companiessupported development of T-SIM software. Thanks to thissupport we have knowledge of the practical problems andsituations which have to be solved in the real process. Theresult is the new T-SIM program which takes into account theneeds of processors from practical experience, using afriendly interface.

Why Simulate a Thermoforming Process ?•Reduce the design time for your products •No need to perform expensive trial-and-error procedures•Select an optimum design from many possible alternatives•Get optimum thickness distribution on final product via

automatically optimized temperature settings on the sheet•Design pre-distorted images for in-mold decoration process•Analyze distortion of your pre-printed graphics•Analyze cooling process•Analyze part shrinkage•Calculate final part weight•Use predicted thickness distribution for structural analysis

T-SIM Features•Simulates positive/negative forming with/without plug

assistance•Fully customizable initial thickness and temperature profile

on sheet•Time dependent deformation is described by viscoelastic

K-BKZ model•Three different damping functions for a better material

data fit (strain hardening)•WLF temperature dependency •Material database containing ABS, PE, PP, PET, PC,

PMMA, … •Imports general 3D molds from CAD packages.

Supported formats: stereolithographic STL, DXF, PatranNeutral, VRML, HyperMesh ASCII

•All molds movable (up to 10 tools can be used in onesimulation project)

•Time dependent sheet sagging included •Friction between stretched plastic material and tools •Heat transfer between material/tools and material/air •User-friendly setup of technological parameters•Context sensitive help, tutorials and hands-on examples •OpenGL used for 3D visualization, allowing dynamic image

rotation, zooming and panning. •Interactive graphical user interface.•Easy, completely editable setup of T-SIM project for solver.

Tight connection between initial project and result files•Many typical thermoforming problems solved and distributed

as examples•Automatic project report creation (HTML+VRML). The

report appearance is fully customizable by an HTMLtemplate.

Material Behavior Description•Data of frequently used polymers are available in the T-SIM

material database•Any material can be tested in cooperation with IKP

Stuttgart, Germany or DatapointLabs, USA•Measured stress/strain curves can be fitted using T-SIMFIT

software package

Solver•Very fast iterative multithreaded solver gets use of parallel

processing on PC with more than one processor•Upper limit of sheet and molds elements is limited only

by PC memory available•Fast contact analysis •Solving a set of thermoforming problems in a batch mode.

This enables automatic case study solution

Postprocessing•3D color maps of thickness, temperature, stress, extension,

3D cuts•Visualization of contacts between plastic material and tools•Easy refinement of the grid in 3D areas of interest directly

from the post-processing window•Export results for structural analysis to Ansys, IGES,

DXF, Cosmos/M, Patran, LS-Dyna files •Output to Patran format enables structural analysis and

calculation of cooling •Interactive thickness/temperature/position information

with a simple mouse click•Export animation file to Microsoft Video Player format•Critical venting areas analysis •Cooling calculation•Shrinkage prediction•Part weight calculation•Position tracking enables analysis of critical parts of the

product

Pre-distortion of Images – Option•Prediction of printed image deformation•Useful for inmold decoration process•T-SIM is able to pre-distort images for printing them on

the flat sheet, so that once thermoformed, the imagesappear true

•Image projection manager enables projection of multipleimages using various projection methods (planar,cylindrical and spherical projection)

•IGES polylines can be projected, distorted/pre-distortedand exported back to IGES

•3D VRML models can be also used for image pre-distortion

•Visualization of the deformation field by 2D grid

Customer Support•Export of internal T-SIM files for easy data exchange via

Internet. This facilitates fast customer support worldwide•Support through Accuform representatives worldwide

System Requirements•PC with 512 MB RAM minimum•Microsoft Windows 2000 or Windows XP Pro

T-SIM Users•T-SIM is used by industry leaders worldwide at Boeing,

DOW, Eastman, GE, Mitsubishi, MIT, BMW, DelphiAutomotive, Riley Medical, Marconi Communications,PCM, Fabri-Kal, American Standard, IPS Polymer, Illig,Kiefel, Gabler and many other thermoformers

T-SIM

Toothbrush cover – simulated thickness profile90000 elements on the sheetCourtesy: Jacob Kunststofftechnik

Transportation tray – simulated thickness profile80000 elements on the sheetPlug assisted negative forming

Courtesy: Jacob Kunststofftechnik

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purp

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áY

- žlu

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- če

rná

C - azurová

M - purpurová

Y - žlutáK

- černá

Ther

mof

orm

ing

AC

CU

FOR

M

2

3

Computer simulation of thermoforming

T-SIMAbout AccuformAccuform has been active in the FEA (Finite ElementsAnalysis) field of thermoforming for more than ten years.Accuform developed T-SIM, thermoforming simulationsoftware. Accuform sells the software through a networkof representatives. Accuform also provides support, serviceand consultations. Accuform products are being used by many of the world'sleading thermoforming equipment manufactures as a partof their daily design procedures. Resin suppliers use ourproducts for technical service assistance and as trainingtools. Processors around the world use our products andservices for troubleshooting, equipment evaluation andthe development of proprietary designs. Our commitmentto product quality and our knowledgeable support staffhave made Accuform products and services the choice ofthe thermoforming industry.

T-SIM DevelopmentA consortium of eleven European thermoforming companiessupported development of T-SIM software. Thanks to thissupport we have knowledge of the practical problems andsituations which have to be solved in the real process. Theresult is the new T-SIM program which takes into account theneeds of processors from practical experience, using afriendly interface.

Why Simulate a Thermoforming Process ?•Reduce the design time for your products •No need to perform expensive trial-and-error procedures•Select an optimum design from many possible alternatives•Get optimum thickness distribution on final product via

automatically optimized temperature settings on the sheet•Design pre-distorted images for in-mold decoration process•Analyze distortion of your pre-printed graphics•Analyze cooling process•Analyze part shrinkage•Calculate final part weight•Use predicted thickness distribution for structural analysis

T-SIM Features•Simulates positive/negative forming with/without plug

assistance•Fully customizable initial thickness and temperature profile

on sheet•Time dependent deformation is described by viscoelastic

K-BKZ model•Three different damping functions for a better material

data fit (strain hardening)•WLF temperature dependency •Material database containing ABS, PE, PP, PET, PC,

PMMA, … •Imports general 3D molds from CAD packages.

Supported formats: stereolithographic STL, DXF, PatranNeutral, VRML, HyperMesh ASCII

•All molds movable (up to 10 tools can be used in onesimulation project)

•Time dependent sheet sagging included •Friction between stretched plastic material and tools •Heat transfer between material/tools and material/air •User-friendly setup of technological parameters•Context sensitive help, tutorials and hands-on examples •OpenGL used for 3D visualization, allowing dynamic image

rotation, zooming and panning. •Interactive graphical user interface.•Easy, completely editable setup of T-SIM project for solver.

Tight connection between initial project and result files•Many typical thermoforming problems solved and distributed

as examples•Automatic project report creation (HTML+VRML). The

report appearance is fully customizable by an HTMLtemplate.

Material Behavior Description•Data of frequently used polymers are available in the T-SIM

material database•Any material can be tested in cooperation with IKP

Stuttgart, Germany or DatapointLabs, USA•Measured stress/strain curves can be fitted using T-SIMFIT

software package

Solver•Very fast iterative multithreaded solver gets use of parallel

processing on PC with more than one processor•Upper limit of sheet and molds elements is limited only

by PC memory available•Fast contact analysis •Solving a set of thermoforming problems in a batch mode.

This enables automatic case study solution

Postprocessing•3D color maps of thickness, temperature, stress, extension,

3D cuts•Visualization of contacts between plastic material and tools•Easy refinement of the grid in 3D areas of interest directly

from the post-processing window•Export results for structural analysis to Ansys, IGES,

DXF, Cosmos/M, Patran, LS-Dyna files •Output to Patran format enables structural analysis and

calculation of cooling •Interactive thickness/temperature/position information

with a simple mouse click•Export animation file to Microsoft Video Player format•Critical venting areas analysis •Cooling calculation•Shrinkage prediction•Part weight calculation•Position tracking enables analysis of critical parts of the

product

Pre-distortion of Images – Option•Prediction of printed image deformation•Useful for inmold decoration process•T-SIM is able to pre-distort images for printing them on

the flat sheet, so that once thermoformed, the imagesappear true

•Image projection manager enables projection of multipleimages using various projection methods (planar,cylindrical and spherical projection)

•IGES polylines can be projected, distorted/pre-distortedand exported back to IGES

•3D VRML models can be also used for image pre-distortion

•Visualization of the deformation field by 2D grid

Customer Support•Export of internal T-SIM files for easy data exchange via

Internet. This facilitates fast customer support worldwide•Support through Accuform representatives worldwide

System Requirements•PC with 512 MB RAM minimum•Microsoft Windows 2000 or Windows XP Pro

T-SIM Users•T-SIM is used by industry leaders worldwide at Boeing,

DOW, Eastman, GE, Mitsubishi, MIT, BMW, DelphiAutomotive, Riley Medical, Marconi Communications,PCM, Fabri-Kal, American Standard, IPS Polymer, Illig,Kiefel, Gabler and many other thermoformers

T-SIM

Toothbrush cover – simulated thickness profile90000 elements on the sheetCourtesy: Jacob Kunststofftechnik

Transportation tray – simulated thickness profile80000 elements on the sheetPlug assisted negative forming

Courtesy: Jacob Kunststofftechnik

C -

azur

ová

M -

purp

urov

áY

- žlu

táK

- če

rná

C - azurová

M - purpurová

Y - žlutáK

- černá

Thermoforming

T-SIM – software package forsimulation of thermoforming.

T-SIM predicts the final wallthickness distribution basedon the specified processingparameters (pressure level,speed of tools, sheettemperature distributionetc.).

T-SIM predicts imagedistortion and pre-distortionfor inmold decorationprocess.

COMPUTER SIMULATION OF THERMOFORMING

T-SIM used as a web prediction toolReal and simulated web locations Tools in T-SIM

Europe:AccuformJetelova 582Zlin-Stipa 763 14Czech Republic Tel./fax: (+420) 603 261 957E-mail: info@t-sim.com WWW: www.t-sim.com

North America:Compuplast Canada Inc.5333 Forest Hill DriveMississauga, Ontario L5M 5A7Canada Tel: +1 (905) 814 8923 Fax: +1 (905) 814 8924E-mail: info@compuplast.caWWW: www.compuplast.ca

T-SIM plug final height influence analysisFinal product Tools in T-SIM Final thickness distribution – detail

Simulated thickness profiles for Comparison of the final thicknessvarious final plug position profiles (simulated and real values)

World’s leading company in FEA of thermoforming, blow molding,

in mold decoration and “shrink sleeve” processes

Real tool photo