Correlation of Material Properties and Process Parameters to Pharmaceutical Tablet Mechanical Characteristics Using a Quai-Continuum Model

The compaction of granular materials is a process utilized by many industries from the ceramical and metallurgical to the chemical and pharmaceutical ones. In fact, the currently most prevalent device for drug delivery – the solid tablet is produced through the process of powder compaction. A clear understanding of the dependence of the mechanical properties of the solid product on both the characteristics of the starting materials and the system dynamics during the process itself is crucial for the development of a Design Space, in accordance with the Quality by Design initiative. For this purpose, a quasicontinuum approach has been implemented to simulate the compaction of confined heterogeneous granular systems consisting of particles of different sizes as well as made up from different materials. Quasicontinuum models rely on a finite element framework, in which the displacement of most constrained particles is computed based on the displacements of the nodes of an adaptive mesh. The method has been augmented to consider both cohesive forces and time-dependent powder particle bonding. This allows for the prediction of the mechanical characteristics of the compacted tablets.