Pouring Cup Test

Use the basin (cup) icon to run an optional pouring cup test to evaluate a material that you want to assign to your model for a foaming simulation.

Location: Foaming ribbon, Basin on the Foam Part icon.

The pouring cup test shows you how parameters such as temperature and fill percentage can determine the foaming behavior of a material relative to a particular mold shape. The simulated expansion of the foam can help you determine the optimal conditions and material amounts to use in the physical manufacturing of the foam part.

The pouring cup test is conducted separately from the foam part setup and simulation. Run a pouring cup test before loading your foam part model, otherwise you will be prompted to close your model.
  1. Hover over the Foam Part icon and click the Pouring Basin.

    The default basin appears prefilled at 20%.


  2. Use the microdialog options to define the basin and material, and to run the test.
    Microdialog option Description
    Select a shape for the pouring basin, then expand the dialog and enter the dimensions for the basin:
    • For the cylinder, enter a radius and height.
    • For the cone, enter a bottom radius, top radius and height.
    • For the cube, enter a length, width and height.
    Prefill % Specifiy the volume of material in the basin at the start of the test. Enter the volume as a percentage of the basin capacity. The default is 20%.
    Click the View Materials button to open the Materials dialog and review the material properties of your selected material. You can also edit, import, export and assign materials from this dialog.
    Select a material for the pouring cup test. You can also assign a material from the Materials dialog.
    Enter the initial temperature for the selected foaming material.
    Click the Run button to run the pouring cup test.
  3. Select the completed run in the Run Status window.
  4. Select a Stage and Result Type in the Analysis Explorer and review the results.
    The following examples show results for the Crash Pad material in a cone basin with default settings.


    Figure 1. Air pressure results for the defects stage

    Figure 2. Polyol [mgKOH] results for the foaming stage