Ansys Polyflow

Ansys Polyflow - Enterprise Polymer Processing Simulation Software

Ansys Polyflow is finite-element based CFD software for polymer, glass, metals and cement processing. It simulates the viscous and viscoelastic flows behind extrusion, blow moulding, thermoforming, film casting, glass forming and fibre spinning, so processes and tooling can be optimised before production runs.

Typical applications include rubber door and window seals, thermoformed instrument panels and fascias, and blow-moulded hollow parts such as fuel tanks, ducts and washer fluid tanks.

Ansys Polyflow 2025 R2

• MUMPS linear solver: better use of the MUMPS solver for distributed-memory clusters.
• CFD HPC Ultimate licence: Polyflow now supports the CFD HPC Ultimate licence.
• Shell mesh adaption: faster mesh adaption for shell simulations with contact.

Read more: Ansys Polyflow 2025 R2 release notes

Ansys CFD Enterprise

Full access to every Polyflow capability, including the mesh superposition technique (MST), volume of fluid (VOF), viscoelasticity and all material models with yield stress.

Ansys CFD Premium

Extrusion and co-extrusion, blow moulding, thermoforming and film casting, with constant-viscosity and generalised Newtonian models. Yield-stress models such as Bingham and Herschel-Bulkley are not included.

Ansys CFD Pro

A reduced set of Polyflow capabilities.

Extrusion Die Design and Optimisation

Extrusion dies can be designed and tested virtually, with automatic die shape optimisation to reach the target profile with fewer physical trials.

Blow Moulding and Thermoforming Thickness Prediction

Wall thickness in blow-moulded and thermoformed parts is predicted from the process, and results pass to Ansys Mechanical and explicit dynamics tools to check the part's performance, which supports lighter packaging.

Viscoelastic Materials and Moving Tools

A viscoelastic fluid library covers new plastics and elastomers, and the mesh superposition technique separates moving tools from the working material, which simplifies mixers and other moving-part processes.

Common Polymer Processing Consultation Topics

• Extrusion die design: die profile and flow balance for a target cross-section.
• Blow-moulded containers: wall thickness and material reduction.
• Thermoformed parts: thickness distribution of liners and panels.
• Material data: fitting rheology measurements to Polyflow material models.

Have a project outside this list? Send us the specification. Where a study needs specialist knowledge, we draw on our wider Ansys partner network.

Related Products

• Ansys Mechanical: structural checks of moulded parts using predicted thickness.
• Ansys CFD: the licence plans that include Polyflow.

Oct ’26 update by the CADIT Ansys CFD Team.