SOLIDWORKS Plastics Standard, Professional, or Premium?
SOLIDWORKS Plastics makes is easy for companies to optimize the design of their injection molded parts and find any potential manufacturing issues before money is spent on expensive injection molds. SOLIDWORKS Plastic comes in three levels – Standard, Professional, and Premium; and each of these packages is fully integrated into SOLIDWORKS CAD allowing User to simulate the injection molding process on their part models without leaving their familiar design package. So, how do you determine which package is right for you?
SOLIDWORKS Plastics Standard
SOLIDWORKS Plastics Standard is geared towards the plastic part designer. It is used to simulate the filling stage of the injection molding process and allows the designer to compare the effect that different model geometries (e.g. wall thicknesses, fillet sizes, feature locations, etc.), polymers, and gate locations, have on the filling characteristics. Using SOLIDWORKS Plastics Standard, the designer is able to quickly see any potential manufacturing issues, such as poorly located weld lines, short shots, air traps, or sink marks, then modify the design to correct these issues early in the design process. The designer has access to the Plastics Materials Database that has the material properties of over 4,000 commercial plastics. Not only does selecting a material define the part’s mechanical properties, but it also sets the default processing parameters to those recommended for that plastic, so the part designer does not need to be a plastics processing expert in order to use the software.
SOLIDWORKS Plastics Professional
SOLIDWORKS Plastics Professional is geared towards the injection mold designer and is used to simulate the fill, pack, and cooling stages. It includes everything in SOLIDWORKS Plastics Standard, plus it can be used to optimize the feed system design of single-cavity, multi-cavity, and family molds, including balancing of runner systems and determining the best gate type, size, and location. It provides the mold designer with the necessary information to estimate cycle times, clamp tonnage and shot size. SOLIDWORKS Plastics Professional also adds the ability to simulate co-injection, multi-shot, and insert over-molding processes.
SOLIDWORKS Plastics Premium
SOLIDWORKS Plastics Premium is geared towards the plastics analyst and is used to simulate all stages of the molding process including post-ejection cooling. It includes everything in SOLIDWORKS Plastics Professional plus advanced functionality to perform a detailed cooling analysis. Complex cooling line layouts including baffles and bubblers can be analyzed, allowing cooling systems to be optimized to minimize cycle times and decrease manufacturing costs. Using SOLIDWORKS Plastics Premium, the analyst can also predict part warpage as the part cools to room temperature and address any warping issues early in the mold design process.
For a full comparison of SOLIDWORKS Plastics features go to our interactive SOLIDWORKS Plastics Packages Comparison Guide.
About the author
Doug Enns, one of MLC CAD Systems Application Experts, is focused on helping companies improve their designs and reduce product development time and cost through the use of computer simulation. He is a licensed professional engineer and has his SOLIDWORKS Elite Applications Engineer certification.
