Application of dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) to determine the mechanical properties of pellets

Pellets of a wide range of mechanical properties were produced by the process of extrusion and spheronisation using various formulation factors. A range of mechanical properties from a simple fracture load to detailed load/displacement curves obtained when pellets were subjected to diametral compression test and a bed of pellets was compacted, were used to provide measure of tensile strength, deformability, linear strain, elastic modulus, yield and shear strength. Such conventional techniques resulted in irreversible damage to the structure of the pellets and were unable to establish the viscoelastic properties of the pellets. The application of the dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), however, allowed the determination of (1) an accurate Young's modulus of elasticity, which was found to be between 8.4 and 24-fold higher than that determined from the diametral compression test, (2) the presence of a reversible elastic deformation even after the yield point in terms of storage modulus and (3) a change in the values of the phase angle, which illustrates the increase in viscoelasticity of the pellets formed with ethanol, glyceryl monostearate (GMS) or glycerol, while a decrease in viscoelasticity with the incorporation of lactose into the microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) pellets. This work further demonstrated that the only feasible technique for determining the elastic and plastic deformability of the pellets is the one which subjects the specimen to stress/relaxation cycles and can determine the dissipated energy in terms of loss modulus or phase angle, and that is DMA.