Material Properties

The thermal, rheological, mechanical and PVT properties for materials are accessible from the Materials dialog on the Materials Database tab.

Materials Database

The Materials Database tab provides the selection of materials available with Inspire Mold. The tab also provides access to the thermal, rheological, mechanical and PVT properties that you can review and modify for your model. You can save any modified materials as new materials and access them through the My Materials tab.

To review a material, select its material group and name:

Material Property Description
Material Group Lists the materials available in the Materials Database.
Material Name Lists the common polymers available for the specified material group.

Thermal Properties

Review the properties on the Thermal tab for the specified material:

Material Property Description
Specific Heat Specifies the heat energy required to increase the temperature of a unit quantity (J/Kg·K).
Conductivity Specifies the heat conductivity of the material (W/m·K).
Density Specifies the density of the material (kg/m3).

Rhealogical Properties

Review the properties on the Rhealogical tab for the specified material:

Material Property Description
Constitutive Model Four models are included in the Materials Database. Select the model appropriate for your material choice. Review the Exponent, Consistency and Relative Shear Stress for your chosen model.
  • Carreau-Yasuda
  • Modified Cross Model
  • Herschel-Bulkley
  • Power Law
Find more information on Rheological Properties in the PDF: Materials Example and Reference.
Temperature Dependence Review the Williams-Landel-Ferry and temperature parameters:
  • WLF Constant C1
  • WLF Constant C2
  • Glass Transition Temperature
Miscellaneous Review these parameters:
  • Reference Temperature (K)
  • No Flow Temperature: Temperature at which the material stops flowing. Generally, this is the Glass Transition temperature (Tg).
  • Minimum Strain Rate Limit: Maximum shear rate for which the data is considered valid.
  • Air Density: Assumed density of the air being displaced in the mold during filling (kg/m3).
Fiber Info Review the fiber content for the specified material including:
  • Percentage of fiber in the melt by weight.
  • Average diameter of the fiber at inlet.
  • Maximum length of the fiber at inlet.
  • Minimum length of the fiber at inlet.
Note: Some materials do not include fiber orientation data. To add this data, edit an existing material and save it as a new material in the My Materials tab.

Mechanical Properties

Review the properties on the Mechanical tab for the specified material:

Material Property Description
Young's Modulus Specifies the measure of the stiffness of the given material (Pa).
Poisson Ratio Specifies the ratio of the relative contraction strain or transverse strain.
Yield Stress Specifies the stress point at which the material deformation changes from elastic to plastic (Pa).
Coefficient of Thermal Expansion Specifies the relative expansion divided by the change in temperature (1/K).

PVT Properties

Review the properties on the PVT tab for the specified material:

Material Property Description
Tait's Model Parameters Specifies the parameters to define a material's equation of state according to Tait's model (SI units).