Glass Material Properties

• Viscosity calculation from glass composition
  If measured viscosity data is not available, the glass viscosity can now be calculated automatically from the specified glass composition.
• Volume expansion coefficient
  The volume expansion coefficient has been added to the available glass material properties.
• User-defined heat transfer coefficient (HTC) laws
  Users can now define their own heat transfer coefficient laws. The HTC can be specified as a function of time, pressure, height, thickness, or temperature, providing greater flexibility when modeling heat transfer between glass and surrounding surfaces.
• Improved viscosity smoothing
  Steep viscosity gradients can negatively affect numerical convergence. A new and improved viscosity smoothing method has therefore been implemented to increase numerical stability.

Geometry and STEP Interface

• Import of custom gob geometries
  Custom gob geometries can now be imported through the STEP interface.
• Export of the final container geometry
  The final container shape can now be exported as a STEP file. Automatic STEP export can be enabled or disabled in the Preferences dialog.
• Overcapacity information
  In addition to the relative cavity value (cavity_volume - gob_volume) / gob_volume, the Geometry tab now also displays the overcapacity.
• Higher boundary point density
  To improve numerical accuracy, the finite-point density at the boundary has been doubled for all resolution levels.

Mold Construction

• New blank mold construction dialogs
  New construction dialogs are available for blank molds using stack cooling and Vertiflow cooling.

Process Definition

• HEAD_CLOSE linked to PLUG removal
  A new option has been added to the Process page that allows the HEAD_CLOSE face to be removed together with the PLUG. If the Head_Close to Plug option is enabled, HEAD_CLOSE is removed at the same time as the PLUG, at Plunger Up OFF.
• Customizable final blow pressure profile
  The final blow pressure profile can now be configured by the user. The following pressure distributions are available: constant, linear radial, quadratic radial, and cubic radial.
• Configurable ambient temperature
  Ambient temperature has been added to the user-defined temperature settings. Previously, the ambient temperature was fixed at 30 °C.
• New tableware process: Press Blow Special
  A new process has been introduced for tableware applications. In this process, no invert operation is performed. Instead, the blank mold is divided into two parts. This makes it possible to simulate geometries such as narrow-neck containers within this specialized press-blow process.

Optimization and Tracking

• Import and export of tracking points
  Tracking points on the Optimization page can now be loaded from and saved to a file, making it easier to reuse tracking configurations between simulations.
• Individual tracking points
  Users can now insert individual tracking points when defining a tracking path on the Optimization page.

Post-Processing and Reporting

• MP4 movie creation
  Movie creation is now integrated into pointsBlow. A screenshot is generated for each simulation time step and these images are combined automatically into an MP4 video. This provides a convenient way to visualize and present the complete forming process.
• Automatic PDF report generation
  Once a simulation has been completed, the PDF report is generated automatically.

Numerical Improvements

• Hybrid-P1 viscosity correction
  For the Hybrid-P1 model, the glass viscosity stiffness correction has been set to zero: Stiffness glass viscosity = 0.
• Improved numerical accuracy
  The increased boundary point density and improved viscosity smoothing contribute to more accurate and robust simulations, particularly in regions with strong viscosity gradients.