| dc.description.abstract | The pharmaceutical powder compression cycle can be subdivided into several
stages, which are associated with numerous complex mechanisms. The
rearrangement and densification of particles, inter-particle interaction and friction,
elastic and plastic deformation of particles, and particle fragmentation are more
important to study to get a proper idea about the tabletting process and occurring
issues during the process. The present study focuses on the assessment of the
capping problem using computer modelling of the pharmaceutical powder
compression and consolidation process using the finite element analysis (FEA)
method implementing the Drucker–Prager Cap (DPC) model. The simulation studies
were conducted for the well-known pharmaceutical excipient Avicel PH 102. The
computer simulation revealed that when the friction coefficient (μ) > 0.2, the elastic
recovery of the powder bed is increased, which will lead to excess dilation during
the decompression and may cause the capping problem during the tabletting.
Further, it was observed that pressure distribution throughout the powder bed was
influenced by the lubrication level of the powder and the geometry of the tooling.
The inhomogeneity of the stress and density distribution may lead to poor
consolidation of the tablet and damage during the decompression stage. This
simulation study indicates that the ideal friction coefficient value for the AvicelPH
102 is μ = 0.15 under this compaction parameter (punch size, R-value of CF tablet
etc.). The variation of the DCP parameters due to relative density changes during the
compression process is not assessed in this study. The conducted simulation study
shows finite element analysis tool can be successfully implemented to resolve the
capping issues occurring with the particular pharmaceutical formulation and can
reduce the necessity of conducting a huge amount of analysis works to optimise
formulation in the preformulation stages. | en_US |
