Fundamentals of Powder Compression. II. The Compression of Binary Powder Mixtures

Although tablet formulations are multicomponent systems, there have been only a few studies on the compression of binary or ternary powder mixtures. Physical interactions between the individual components may influence important biopharmaceutical properties of the compact, e.g., disintegration time and dissolution rate of the active ingredient. In the second part of this review paper the importance of these physical interactions is emphasized. The investigations are limited to the strength of the compact. An attempt is made to deduce additivity rules for the material-specific compressibility and compactibility parameters. Such additivity rules are of special importance, as they may allow the prediction of tablet properties at the formulation test. The final section is devoted to problems in compression, i.e., sticking and capping.