Part Cavity

Use the Part Cavity tool to designate, automatically detect, and reorient the part cavities in your model geometry.

Location: Molding ribbon

Designate a Cavity

Define the part cavities, material, polymer, and temperature for the molding simulation.

Note: You need to designate a part cavity before performing any other operation.
  1. On the Part Cavity icon, click Designate Part Cavity.
  2. Select the part cavity in your model. If your model contains more than one part cavity, select them all.
    The selected parts are displayed in red.


  3. Use the microdialog options to define the material, polymer, and temperature.
    Option Description Note
    Click the View Materials button to examine the material's thermal, rhealogical, mechanical, PVT and fiber properties.
    • You can modify an existing material in the Materials dialog, save it with a new name, and access it from the My Materials tab.
    • You can download additional materials from the Altair Material Data Center, save them locally, and import them into My Materials.
    Select a material type.  
    Select from common polymers of your chosen material type.  
    Enter the temperature of the material.  

Automatically Detect Cavities

Automatically detect and designate the mold part cavities and running system.

  1. On the Part Cavity icon, click Auto Configure Components.
  2. Click the surface of the inlet to automatically detect the mold part cavities and the runner system components.
    The mold part cavities are displayed in dark red and the runner system components in light red. The selected inlet has a green arrow.


  3. Use the microdialog options to define the material type, polymer and temperature.

Reorient a Cavity

Reorient a part cavity to a mold opening.

Note: You need to designate a part cavity before performing any other operation.

The Reorient Cavity tool lets you change the orientation of your part cavity in respect to the mold opening direction.

  1. On the Part Cavity icon, click Reorient Cavity.
    A gray arrow appears indicating the direction of the mold opening. The following example shows the mold opening direction on the Y-axis:
  2. Determine the optimal orientation of the part cavity to the mold opening direction. Based on that orientation, select the face of the part cavity that it is perpendicular to the mold opening direction.
    In the following example, the part cavity face with the most surface area is selected to be reoriented to the mold opening. The selection is outlined in yellow.


    After you select a face, the model reorients with the face perpendicular to the mold opening.