In-Die Techniques to Characterize Powder Compression

Abstract

Powder compaction plays a large role in many industries, including pharmaceutical tablet, metal part, detergent, cosmetics, and food manufacturing. Assessing the mechanical properties of a powdered material is an important step in developing processes that can effectively transform a powdered material into a product via densification. In-die analyses performed during compaction are fast and materials sparing compared to traditional out-of-die approaches. The goal of this work includes: (1) evaluate the effectiveness of fast, materials- sparing in-die methods for characterizing powder compaction compared to traditional out- of-die methods; (2) explore the benefits of using in-die elastic recovery measures to predict compact lamination via air entrapment; and (3) develop a universal compressibility model framework that can fully describe in-die compaction data, including all low- and high-pressure mechanisms. These goals aim to enable a fast and materials-sparing assessment of powder mechanical properties and lays a foundation for optimal formulation composition, processing strategy, and quality control assessment from such mechanical property assessments.