Composter floor design evaluation with injection moulding process simulation

During the development of the polymer product, and subsequently the mould for injection moulding, simulations of the filling of the mould cavity play a major role. Simulations can help to determine some parameters such as volumetric shrinkage, shear stress in material, warpage, air bubbles, etc. In this paper, with the help of software Moldex3D, an analysis of the bottom of a home composter was made. Home composter element is designed and evaluated to reduce material and production cost but to achieve functionality and quality. The part is redesigned to become suitable for injection moulding manufacturing process. FEA and injection moulding simulations are used to compare the designs regarding warpage and shrinkage defects. The results show a significant reduction in material usage and warpage maintaining satisfactory stiffness and shrinkage variations.