Blending of agglomerates into powders 1: Quantification of abrasion rate.

A very common situation in the pharmaceutical arena is that a small amount of cohesive drug substance needs to be distributed in a large bulk of free-flowing filler such as lactose. The key topic of attention is that aggregates of a cohesive drug substance need to be sufficiently broken up in an acceptable time-frame. This implies that there is need for a better mechanistic understanding of the blending process and the reduction in size of the aggregates.

The effect of crystal imperfections on particle fracture behaviour.

Micronisation of active pharmaceutical ingredients is a process which is sometimes difficult to control. The main purpose of this study was to assess the effect of the pre-existing flaws in the material to be milled. The rate of breakage of four samples of a model compound (sodium chloride), originating from different sources, was determined in a jet mill.