An application for zirconia as a pharmaceutical die set

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate the possible use of zirconia as a material for the manufacture of punches and dies for use in tableting machines and to study its effect on ejection of tablets made from different formulations. In order to achieve this objective, the compaction properties of three commercially available direct compression excipients were examined with the help of a compaction simulator, over a range of compaction pressures using steel and zirconia tooling. The data obtained for all materials indicated that, for a particular compression speed, the work required to eject the tablet from the die, i.e., the work needed to overcome die wall friction during ejection, was lower in zirconia tooling than steel tooling. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was employed to investigate the excipients powders and compact surfaces for contrasting particle morphology before and after compaction. Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) was also carried out on the representative tablets compacted at high speed using zirconia tooling and no shedding of zirconia into the tablets was detected