SolidWorks® software includes MoldflowExpress, a tool that can help optimize your injection-molded plastic parts. With MoldflowXpress, you can easily compare part models to identify and resolve potential manufacturing issues. The tool is a wizard-based design validation program powered by Moldflow® technology that predicts whether an injection-molded part will fill based on geometry (e.g., wall thickness), injection location, type of material, and processing conditions.

MoldflowXpress is completely integrated in SolidWorks and can be launched from the Tools menu or the icon on the Mold Tools toolbar.

Validating your part wall thickness is easy:

• Specify an injection location
• Select a plastic material from the drop-down list of the 22 most commonly used plastics
• Launch the analysis
• Analysis typically takes just a few minutes and once the analysis is complete, a message will indicate whether or not your part could be filled with the plastic you selected:

If the part can be easily filled, you can move on to the next step of your product development process.
If the part cannot be filled, you might try increasing the part wall thickness, which generally improves the flow of melted plastic.

Get started by taking the MoldflowXpress online tutorial, which you can easily access from within SolidWorks software. The tutorial guides you through a complete wall-thickness optimization project so you can see just how easy it is to set up, run and view analysis results and make decisions that will improve the manufacturability of your designs.