SIGMASOFT® Virtual Molding

The SIGMASOFT® Virtual Molding technology was developed to overcome today’s big challenges for development, mold design and production in injection molding. This includes trouble-shooting for unforeseen challenges, but also revealing of hidden potential. The difference is SIGMASOFT® Virtual Molding’s unique, holistic approach for the simulation of injection molding processes.

The key of the SIGMASOFT® Virtual Molding principle is the real 3D simulation of flow, heat flux and warpage for injection molding including the complete mold with all details. Thus SIGMASOFT® Virtual Molding delivers sound information as only acceptable basis for accurate and reliable decisions.

Since 1998 SIGMA in Aachen, Germany, is the pioneer and pacemaker of this technology. SIGMASOFT® Virtual Molding is development in cooperation with MAGMA in Aachen, who set the standard for 3D metal casting process simulation with MAGMASOFT® at the end of the 1980ies and is today’s worldwide technology and market leader.

SIGMASOFT® Virtual Molding supports solutions for complex questions in injection molding ranging from the first design to production:
Developers and designers distinguish possible production problems or critical behavior in the parts long before a real prototype exists. This frontloading shortens development times and minimizes risks.
Tool makers are able to optimally design mold tempering, runner systems, hot or cold runners and ejector packages in the first attempt.
Molders easily find ideal production parameters to realize the desired part quality and productivity.

Thus SIGMASOFT® Virtual Molding supports competitive critical factors as quality, productivity and energy and material efficiency with maximum reliability and maximum success: the only tool that takes the complexity of injection molding seriously!

Examples:

Case Studies Plastic
Case Studies Elastomer
Case Studies LSR
Case Studies Thermoset
Case Studies MIM/CIM
Case Studies Multicomponent
Case Studies Integrative Simulation

SIGMA CAD

In the majority of cases CAD data are used in developing new parts. These can be loaded in SIGMASOFT® with our CAD-inteface. Whether you have the complete mold with runner and tempering system or, just the part.

SIGMASOFT® provides the following CAD interfaces:

  • STL
  • STEP
  • Catia V5
  • Creo (Pro/E)

Additional it is possible to export CAD geometries from the SIGMASOFT® Geometry Perspective or distorted geometries from your shrinkage and warpage simulation to your favorite CAD interface.

SIGMA link

Often results of a process simulation are only a step in engineering design chain. For optimizing design of an injection molded article it is crucial to serve the mechanical requirements and limits. Mechanical simulation helps in many cases to find limits in design. Often it is not possible to get local properties, so safety factors have to be used. But SIGMASOFT® calculates anisotropic properties and can help improving design.

SIGMAlink is the tool to export the results of SIGMASOFT® polymer system simulation to be used further in FEM-simulation tools (Finite Element Method). The user is free to export every result calculated in SIGMASOFT® to his preferred format.

Many different FE-meshes can be used with SIGMAlink (click to expand):

  • ABAQUS ABAQUS (Import,*.inp)
  • MSC PATRAN (Neutral File,*.pat)
  • MSC MARC, NASTRAN (through PATRAN)
  • UG (I-DEAS) I-DEAS (Universal File,*.unv)
  • INTES PERMAS (*.dat)
  • ANSYS ANSYS (*.ans,*,cdb)
  • MAGNA STEYR FEMFAT (through I-DEAS,*.unv)
  • ALTAIR Engineering HYPERVIEW (export only,*.h3d)
  • ALTAIR Engineering RADIOSS (*.rad)
  • ESI Group PAMCRASH (* .pc)
  • LSTC LS Dyna
  • STL, CT-data (import only)

SIGMAlink can use FE meshes for data export, but also for geometry import. Using the same FE mesh for both purposes, the user can exclude later discrepancy between the model used for simulation (which is usually a CAD file) and the FE-mesh used for export. Discrepancy can be in geometry, but also in coordinate system.

Following types of results can be exported (click to expand):

  • Scalar values, e.g. temperatures
  • Vectors, e.g. velocity, displacement
  • Tensors, e.g. stress, strain, fiber orientation

SIGMA Academy

For our users we offer dedicated trainings with different core topics. Thus we enable them to use SIGMASOFT  ® Virtual Molding to their full advantage.

Learn more

About us

For 20 years we are the expert on all kinds of injection molding simulation. From part to process we help to optimize plastic, rubber, thermoset and PIM applications. Here you can learn more about the company behind SIGMASOFT ®.

About us