Braskem HDPE AD57

Why Food-Grade Dairy and Juice Containers Use Monolayer AD57 Instead of Random Copolymer PP

When switching from random copolymer PP to HDPE AD57 in monolayer dairy and juice containers, the converter gains top-load stiffness but accepts a narrower processing window for parison sag. Food packaging lines for fresh milk, pasteurized juice, and edible oil require a balance of drop impact resistance at chilled temperatures and scalable container rigidity. AD57 is processed as the sole resin in monolayer bottles where cap sealing surface flatness and fill-line creep resistance are specified. Compliance for direct food contact is based on 21 CFR 177.1520(c)(3.2a), subject to conditions of use A through H, and on Commission Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 Annex I for plastic materials intended to contact food. A 1-gallon milk jug at 950–1050 g total mass is blow molded on an eight-station rotary wheel; mold temperature is maintained at 12–18°C with plant chilled water. Parison drop time from die to mold is minimized by using melt at 190–200°C and a die gap of 1.0–1.5 mm. Drop impact testing in accordance with ASTM D2463 commonly uses bottles conditioned to 5–7°C for 4 h; a first-pass pass height above 1.2 m is required for dairy distribution. In-house regrind from flash and off-spec containers is re-extruded at no more than 20 wt% for food packaging. Organoleptic evaluation follows ASTM E1870 or an equivalent triangle panel after 72 h contact with neutral water at 40°C; the grade contributes no detectable paraffinic off-taste when processing temperatures stay below 220°C and regrind content is controlled. Terminal products include 1-quart creamer bottles, 1-gallon milk jugs, and 64-fluid-ounce high-density polyethylene juice bottles with 38 mm neck finishes.

Pharmaceutical Packaging Tests Under USP <661.1> for Solid Oral and Topical HDPE Bottles

For solid oral dosage containers and topical cream jars produced from AD57, physicochemical test panels defined in USP <661.1> govern both the resin and the molded container. The converter runs the resin on a 60 mm extruder with 25:1 L/D and polished chrome screw; the melt temperature is held at 185–205°C to avoid generation of low-molecular-weight oxidative byproducts that elevate non-volatile residue. The blow mold is operated in a cleanroom meeting ISO 14644-1 Class 8 or better. Parison inflation air is passed through a 0.2 µm hydrophobic membrane filter. Extracts from the finished container are measured for heavy metals, buffering capacity, reducing substances, and UV absorbance using procedures described in USP <661.2>. Typical acceptance values require total ash below 0.1% and extractable non-volatile residue below 25 mg/L for a 250 mL bottle. The terminal 100 mL and 250 mL round bottles are sealed with child-resistant polypropylene closures and induction-welded polyethylene liners. Moisture vapour transmission is measured at 38°C and 90% RH using USP <671>; for a 0.6 mm wall section, permeation values constrain the product to solid oral formulations that do not require desiccant-level barriers. AD57 is not positioned for parenteral or ophthalmic primary packaging unless a drug-specific extractables-leachables study demonstrates compatibility under the final formulation.

Personal care containers for shampoos, conditioners, and shower gels require a different wall-distribution profile than dairy jugs because the bottle is squeezed repeatedly during use. The processor sets accumulator-head parison programming with 20–25 wall points and a programmed die gap from 1.2 mm at the neck to 0.7 mm in the body, then back to 1.0 mm at the base pinch-off. Cycle time for a 500 mL bottle on a double-station shuttle machine is typically 12–18 s. AD57 is used without drying at plant relative humidity below 60%. A pearlescent masterbatch based on polyethylene with 1–3 wt% mica is added at 2–4 wt%. The grade must withstand stress-cracking agents in high-active surfactant systems. Accelerated testing follows ASTM D1693 Condition A at 50°C, with the bottle wall exposed to a model solution of 15% sodium lauryl ether sulfate; an F50 above 200 h is the minimum observed in qualifying trials. The finished container is evaluated for sidewall squeeze recovery and drop resistance at ambient temperature and at 4°C. Hot-fill is not used because HDPE loses hoop strength above 65°C, so the route targets cold-filled personal care formulations.

When UN-Certified Jerry Can Production Needs Packing Group II and III Drop Performance

For dangerous goods packaging in crop protection and industrial maintenance fluids, the dominant risk is not wall thickness alone but pinch-off integrity and stress-crack propagation after drop impact. A 20 L jerry can blow molded from AD57 as monolayer HDPE typically carries the UN marking 3H1/Y/… after passing performance tests defined in the UN Manual of Tests and Criteria, Part 6. The grade demonstrates sufficient ESCR for many water-based and dilute emulsifiable concentrates, but aromatic solvent concentrations above 10–15% in the fill formulation may require fluorinated HDPE or a polyamide barrier liner because monolayer polyethylene allows permeation and environmental stress cracking at the pinch-off. For a 20 L can, the minimum wall thickness after trimming is held at 1.0–1.2 mm in the body and 2.5–3.0 mm at the handle bridge and bottom chime. The extruder runs a 80 mm grooved-feed screw with 25:1 L/D; the accumulator head delivers a 1.2–1.5 kg parison shot. Programmed parison wall thickness uses 30–50 points to shift material toward the bottom corners where drop impact energy concentrates.

UN drop test heights for rigid plastics jerricans containing liquids, per UN Manual 6.1.5.3
Packing Group	Drop Height	Fill Condition
I	1.8 m	Water
II	1.2 m	Water or product-equivalent
III	0.8 m	Water or product-equivalent

UN drop test heights for rigid plastics jerricans containing liquids, per UN Manual 6.1.5.3

Packing Group

Drop Height

Fill Condition

1.8 m

Water

1.2 m

Water or product-equivalent

III

0.8 m

Water or product-equivalent

Drop testing follows 6.1.5.3 of the UN Manual, with water-filled containers conditioned to -18°C for Group II liquids that remain liquid below 0°C. The bottle is dropped onto a rigid steel plate from the applicable height in the table. Acceptance requires no leakage, but permanent deformation at the chime is permitted. Additional qualification includes a hydraulic internal pressure test under 6.1.5.4 and leakproofness under 6.1.5.5. Stacking stability is evaluated at 40°C for 28 days with the calculated load derived from the stacking height declared on the UN mark. The terminal products are 5 L, 10 L, and 20 L containers fitted with buttress or Rieke-type closures. A critical process conflict arises when adding UV stabilizer masterbatch in outdoor crop protection packaging: stabilizer packages based on hindered amine light stabilizers can accelerate ESCR loss if overdosed above 1.5 wt% masterbatch, so converter validation uses ASTM D1693 Condition B on molded samples after 1000 h xenon arc exposure under ASTM G155.

Coextruded Barrier Structures with AD57 as the Structural HDPE Substrate

Oxygen-sensitive sauce bottles and edible oil containers use AD57 as the structural HDPE skins in continuous coextrusion blow molding. The structural HDPE layers provide rigidity, ESCR, and heat-seal compatibility with standard HDPE closures. A six-layer head produces the sequence: HDPE skin / tie / EVOH / tie / regrind / HDPE skin. The EVOH layer at 3–5% of total wall thickness reduces oxygen transmission by approximately 95% compared with monolayer HDPE of the same total gauge. Melt rheology matching is critical because the grade’s high viscosity at 0.70 g/10 min MFR can generate interfacial instability when adjacent tie layers have MFR above 2.5 g/10 min. Processors typically select maleic anhydride-grafted polyethylene tie resins with MFR between 0.8–1.5 g/10 min and run all extruder adapters at 200–215°C. The terminal bottle is a 500 mL to 1 L squeeze container for mayonnaise, ketchup, or edible oil. Layer distribution is measured by microtome cross-section and optical microscopy on 20 µm sections; the barrier layer must remain continuous at the pinch-off. Trimming waste is dry-ground and fed to the regrind layer at 20–30 wt% of total extrudate, with maximum particle size 8 mm screened. Compliance is assessed under 21 CFR 177.1520 for HDPE, 21 CFR 177.1360 for EVOH, and EU Regulation 10/2011. A limitation is that coextruded containers are less suitable for post-consumer recycle streams where EVOH barrier layers complicate HDPE flake separation in conventional sink-float processes.

Braskem HDPE AD57 identifies a high-molecular-weight high-density polyethylene resin supplied for extrusion blow moulding of hollow components that require a balance of melt strength, stiffness, and environmental stress crack resistance. The grade belongs to the polyolefin family and is characterized by a density of 0.955–0.958 g/cm³ when measured according to ASTM D1505 or ISO 1183. Melt flow rate, determined at 190 °C under 2.16 kg load using ASTM D1238 or ISO 1133, is typically observed between 0.25 g/10 min and 0.35 g/10 min. These values place the resin in the high-molecular-weight range for HDPE blow moulding, where low melt flow rate is not a processing defect but a prerequisite for parison strength during long hang times. Braskem technical literature lists the grade for automotive fluid containers, industrial packaging, agricultural chemical bottles, and other blow moulded parts that encounter aggressive substances or low-temperature impact. The product is distinguishable from general-purpose HDPE blow moulding grades by its higher molecular weight, broader molecular weight distribution, and stabilisation package intended for process stability. Lot-specific values should be confirmed against the certificate of analysis because density and melt flow rate can vary within the published production tolerance.

Why Does Melt Strength Limit Parison Stability in Extrusion Blow Moulding?

Continuous extrusion blow moulding of high-molecular-weight HDPE becomes sensitive to parison sag when melt strength is insufficient for the part length and wall thickness target. For Braskem HDPE AD57, melt strength is governed by high molecular weight and molecular weight distribution, not by density alone. In a typical shuttle blow moulding line, the die head temperature is maintained within 200–210 °C; at 215 °C the parison can elongate under its own weight and produce uneven wall thickness. Shear rates in the die land for 20–60 L parts often range between 50 s⁻¹ and 500 s⁻¹, where the resin exhibits pronounced shear thinning. This rheology lowers head pressure while retaining sufficient zero-shear viscosity to support the parison. Production-scale observation on comparable high-molecular-weight HDPE indicates that shot-weight variation of ±0.5 kg on a 40 L moulding can frequently be traced to ±3 °C temperature drift in the die head. Tooling with die gaps of 1.8–3.0 mm is common; smaller gaps increase shear stress and can trigger melt fracture at lower output. Parison length control systems are required when hang times exceed 20–30 s because manual adjustment cannot compensate for viscosity changes from batch-to-batch melt flow variation.

Environmental stress crack resistance in Braskem HDPE AD57 is routinely assessed using ASTM D1693 with 10 % Igepal CO-630 solution at 50 °C. Production lots commonly exhibit failure times above 400 h under Condition B, although specific results vary with molded-in stress and specimen preparation. The resin is therefore used for containers of surfactants, agricultural chemicals, and oils where slow crack growth rather than immediate yield dominates failure. For automotive fuel tank applications, monolayer HDPE of this type is typically coextruded with an ethylene-vinyl alcohol barrier layer because hydrocarbon permeation is the limiting variable. Published data for AD57 monolayer permeation rates under fuel test conditions are limited; system-level permeation must be validated on the complete coextruded part. The material is not a low-permeation fluorinated or sulfonated grade unless post-treatment is specified. High ESCR in the base resin should not be interpreted as universal chemical resistance; strong oxidizers and certain solvents can still induce environmental stress cracking. Selection should be based on immersion testing of the finished container, not on raw resin ESCR alone.

Typical Physical Property Envelope for Braskem HDPE AD57

Values below are representative of supplier technical literature and production-lot certificates; they are not batch-release guarantees. Specimens for mechanical testing are conditioned at 23±2 °C and 50±5 % relative humidity for 40 h per ISO 291 unless the referenced standard specifies otherwise.

Property	Typical value	Unit	Test method
Density	0.955–0.958	g/cm³	ASTM D1505 / ISO 1183
Melt flow rate	0.25–0.35	g/10 min	ASTM D1238, 190 °C/2.16 kg
Tensile stress at yield	24–27	MPa	ASTM D638 / ISO 527-2
Elongation at break	600–900	%	ASTM D638
Flexural modulus, 1 % secant	950–1150	MPa	ASTM D790 / ISO 178
Environmental stress crack resistance	400–800	h	ASTM D1693, Condition B
Vicat softening temperature, 10 N	124–128	°C	ASTM D1525 / ISO 306

The flexural modulus is reported as a 1 % secant modulus because it relates more directly to container top-load behaviour than the initial tangent modulus. Notched impact results for high-molecular-weight HDPE are often recorded as no break at room temperature; therefore low-temperature impact at -30 °C should be obtained if the application involves cold-climate drop impact. A melt flow rate above 0.40 g/10 min in a production lot may indicate a molecular weight shift that must be evaluated for parison sag and ESCR retention.

On shuttle blow moulding machines with extruder L/D ratios between 24:1 and 30:1, the temperature profile for Braskem HDPE AD57 typically advances from 170 °C at the feed throat to 200–215 °C at the die head. Screw designs with a compression ratio of 2.2:1 to 2.8:1 and a barrier mixing section provide stable output without excessive shear heating. Mold temperatures are maintained at 10–30 °C; lower mold temperatures increase solidification rate but may reduce surface gloss. Blow air pressure between 0.5 MPa and 0.8 MPa is normally sufficient for wall thicknesses of 2–6 mm. The processing window is constrained by two failure modes: at die temperatures below 195 °C, melt fracture and visible die lines may appear on the parison; at temperatures above 220 °C, oxidation can generate gel particles and reduce drop impact. Closed-loop die temperature control capable of maintaining ±3 °C is therefore specified for continuous production. If storage relative humidity exceeds 60 %, pre-drying at 70–80 °C for 2–3 h with desiccant air having a dew point below -30 °C is recommended to prevent splay and pinholes. Accumulator head or reciprocating screw machines used for large parts require accurate shot-size setting; melt pressure at the die entrance in the range of 20–35 MPa is common for high-molecular-weight HDPE, although actual values depend on tooling and output.

When Fuel Contact and Long-Term Ageing Dominate Material Selection

In automotive fuel tank applications, material selection is governed primarily by hydrocarbon permeation, impact retention after fuel ageing, and weld-line integrity in areas where the parison is compressed by mould closing. Braskem HDPE AD57 can be used as the structural and regrind layers of multi-layer fuel tanks, typically with an ethylene-vinyl alcohol barrier layer and adhesive tie layers. The high molecular weight improves impact resistance at low temperatures, while the melt strength allows stable formation of the large-diameter parison needed for tanks in the 40–80 L range. Fuel ageing tests are commonly conducted using Fuel C at 60 °C for 1000 h, followed by tensile and impact measurement; AD57-specific published data from independent sources are limited, so qualification on the actual coextruded structure is required. Weld-line strength is evaluated by pressurised burst testing of the finished tank rather than by small-specimen tensile tests. The density and comonomer content also affect fuel swelling; higher-density HDPE generally shows lower swelling but may sacrifice ESCR. This trade-off explains why AD57 is not automatically interchangeable with lower-density HDPE blow moulding grades for aggressive fuels, including methanol-containing blends where swelling can exceed 3 % in unoptimised grades.

Comparing AD57 with Medium-Flow HDPE and Metallocene Grades

Relative to general-purpose blow moulding HDPE grades with melt flow rates between 0.6 g/10 min and 1.0 g/10 min, Braskem HDPE AD57 exhibits lower melt flow, higher die swell, and longer parison hang time. This difference makes AD57 suitable for large or heavy parts but reduces output potential and increases head pressure on narrow die gaps. Compared with metallocene-catalysed HDPE grades that often have narrow molecular weight distribution and low extractables, AD57 may show broader molecular weight distribution, which improves processability and melt strength but can increase die swell variability. In applications where surface finish and thin-wall uniformity are more important than ESCR, a medium-flow grade may be preferred. In applications where slow crack growth under chemical load is the limiting failure mode, AD57 is selected because ESCR performance generally scales inversely with melt flow rate for the same density range. The difference from high-flow injection moulding HDPE is more fundamental: AD57 is not intended for injection moulding thin-wall closures or caps because its low melt flow and high molecular weight cause high filling pressures and potential weld-line weakness in multi-gate injection moulds. Blow moulding grades are sometimes compared by melt flow ratio; if high-load melt flow is not reported on the datasheet, the ratio between 21.6 kg and 2.16 kg melt flow can be used to infer molecular weight distribution for incoming lot evaluation.

Regulatory conformity for a specific production lot must be confirmed against the certificate of analysis and supplier regulatory letter. The base resin can be evaluated under EU Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 for REACH registration, Directive 2011/65/EU for RoHS restricted substances, and 21 CFR 177.1520 when used as an olefin polymer in contact with food, subject to end-use limitations and migration testing. The grade has an operational boundary of continuous service under mechanical load near 80 °C; above this threshold, creep and oxidative embrittlement become design-limiting. Storage should be in a dry indoor environment below 60 % relative humidity, and regrind levels above 20 % should be validated for ESCR retention because repeated heat history shifts molecular weight distribution. The resin is incompatible with prolonged contact with strong oxidising acids and should not be combined with additives that generate acid species at processing temperatures unless stabilisation is confirmed by oven-aging tests. Persistent outdoor exposure without carbon black or hindered amine light stabilizer will cause surface chalking and loss of impact strength; AD57 is not inherently UV-stabilized.

HS Code	429918
Productname	Braskem HDPE AD57
Materialtype	High Density Polyethylene (HDPE)
Density	0.957 g/cm³
Meltflowrate	0.30 g/10 min (190°C/2.16 kg)
Tensilestrengthatyield	26 MPa
Tensilestrengthatbreak	30 MPa
Elongationatbreak	>600%
Flexuralmodulus	1100 MPa
Vicatsofteningtemperature	126°C
Heatdeflectiontemperature	70°C at 0.45 MPa
Brittlenesstemperature	< -70°C
Environmentalstresscrackresistance	>1000 h
Hardnessshored	65
Waterabsorption	<0.01%

Packing	Braskem HDPE AD57 is supplied in 25 kg polyethylene bags, palletized and stretch-wrapped for secure transport and storage.
Container Loading (20′ FCL)	Braskem HDPE AD57 loaded in 20′ FCL dry container as palletized 25 kg bags, ambient, securely stowed for export transport.
Shipping	Braskem HDPE AD57 is shipped as non-hazardous polyethylene resin pellets in 25-kg bags, octabins, or bulk containers. Pallets should be stretch-wrapped and kept dry, away from direct sunlight, heat, and moisture. It requires no dangerous-goods placards or UN number; use standard road, rail, or sea freight.
Storage	Store Braskem HDPE AD57 in a cool, dry, well-ventilated warehouse, away from direct sunlight, heat, sparks, flames, and strong oxidizers. Keep original bags or containers closed, clean, and palletized off the floor. Avoid moisture, dust, and prolonged UV exposure. Maintain ambient storage temperature, good housekeeping, and first-in, first-out rotation. No smoking; observe local regulations and SDS recommendations.
Shelf Life	Typically two years when stored unopened in original packaging, in a cool, dry, ventilated area away from direct sunlight and moisture.

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