SABIC® HDPE and blow moulding
Strong position in Europe based on trust.
SABIC Europe HDPE blow moulding grades are produced in an improved Phillips slurry process using a Chromium catalyst system. The slurry production technology for polyethylene is the standard in the Western European blow mouding market.
SABIC Europe has more than 20 years of experience in the blow moulding packaging market and is seen as a reliable supplier and partner in the industry. With an overall market share of 14% in the Western European HDPE Market SABIC® HDPE grades have a well-established position.
The product portfolio of SABIC covers a broad field of different applications. From dairy bottles and other food applications to intermediate (5-30L) UN containers for the transportation of dangerous goods you can find an optimised SABIC® HDPE grade.
Over the last 20 years we have developed and optimised our grades in close cooperation with our customers. This has led to a product performance and processing behaviour that is fine-tuned for the specific application area and processing machines involved.
Continuous improvement is our philosophy.
At SABIC we work on continuous improvement in order to keep our grades up to market standards. The development and optimisation projects are carried out by SABIC Europe in close cooperation with SABIC Research. An important tool in realizing these projects is the possibility to screen catalysts and produce small amounts of polyethylene in our mini-plant. In the development of a new grade market requirements are the starting point for our design specifications. Focus points for product quality are quality consistency, trouble-free processing, excellent thermal stability and well balanced end product properties.
Trouble free processing is of utmost importance to our customers.
Since the raw material represents a high share of the bottle cost, trouble free processing and quality consistency are key to the blow moulder. The modified Phillips slurry process enables us to produce a very consistent quality within tight specification ranges. These specifications are based on the needs of the customer and ensure trouble free production.
The SABIC® HDPE grades have a very consistent die-swell that enables, even in critical applications like multi-layer bottles, a consistent wall thickness distribution throughout the bottle design.
Optimal flow properties lead to high efficiencies.
The melt flow (rheological) properties of our SABIC® HDPE grades are designed in such a way that the grades are capable of running on all available blow moulding machine types. Due to our market experience and regular contacts with machine manufacturers we've build up a lot of know how on what the different machines types require from a polyethylene resin. This has resulted in a SABIC® HDPE portfolio capable of running on all commercial available machine concepts like continuous extrusion, reciprocating screw, accumulator head and the different wheel designs.
The range of SABIC® HDPE grades provides the choice of an optimised grade for low, medium and high output machines enabling high efficiencies on all different machine types.
Thermal stability to minimize black specs.
The processing temperatures of the SABIC® HDPE grades can be in the range of 170°C to 230°C depending on the grade, processing technology and end product. Realising how important thermal stability is in reaching high machine efficiencies we've developed an optimised, FDA and EEC approved additive package to stabilize against degradation during processing.
In the development of the additive package we've taken into account that in some applications the regrind percentage can be as high as 60%.
Well balanced End-product properties to meet the increasing demands.
Each blow moulding application requires different properties of the SABIC® HDPE grades.
For food packaging organoleptical properties are important whereas environmental stress crack resistance and stiffness are important for detergent and cleaner applications. Industrial containers require chemical resistance and impact strength, especially when the products are classified as dangerous goods under the UN regulations.
