Effect of Moisture of Pharmaceutical Material MCC Avicel PH102 and Tablet Diameter on the Compression Process and Tablet Strength

This paper focuses on the effect of moisture of powder material on the process of tablet compression and on tablet mechanical strength. The powder used in the experiments was Avicel PH102 microcrystalline cellulose, as it is the most widely used excipient in direct tablet compression. The compression process is described using the Heckel equation and the strength of the tablets was determined using a Brazilian test. To introduce the reader to the issue, the first part of the paper is devoted to a theoretical introduction. The second part of the work is devoted to the description of experimental equipment and work procedure. The last part of the paper presents the results of the experiment and their evaluation. The reason for this experiment was the assumption that the moisture of the raw material significantly affects the compression process and the mechanical strength of the tablet. A series of experiments demonstrated this effect, which can be seen in the respective graphs.

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About this article: Guštafík, Adam, Jezsó, Kristian, Vaľková, Karolína, Macho, Oliver and Peciar, Peter. “Effect of Moisture of Pharmaceutical Material MCC Avicel PH102 and Tablet Diameter on the Compression Process and Tablet Strength” Strojnícky časopis – Journal of Mechanical Engineering, vol.72, no.1, 2022, pp.49-54. https://doi.org/10.2478/scjme-2022-0005

MANUFACTURERS OF MICROCRYSTALLINE CELLULOSE

Conclusion
This work described research into the properties influencing the compression process of the common pharmaceutical filler Avicel PH102 in the process of tablet production and the influence of the same properties on the final mechanical strength of tablets. The main investigated property was the moisture content of the raw material. The measured data were evaluated using the Heckel equation and the tablets were subjected to the Brazilian test. Appropriate graphs have been created to better display the required dependencies. These graphs show that tablets prepared from a material with a higher moisture content achieved a greater degree of compaction than tablets made from a material with a lower moisture content. It has also been proven that smaller tablets achieved higher yield stress values, indicating a lower degree of compaction than larger tablets.