Validation of Model-Based Melt Viscosity in Hot-Melt Extrusion Numerical Simulation

A validation for the use of model-based melt viscosity in hot-melt extrusion numerical simulations was presented. Here, the melt viscosity of an amorphous solid dispersion (ASD) was calculated by using its glass transition temperature (T) and the rheological flow profile of the pure polymeric matrix. All further required physical properties were taken from the pure polymer. For forming the ASDs, four active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), that had not been considered in first place to establish the correlation between T and melt viscosity were examined. The ASDs were characterized in terms of density, specific heat capacity, melt rheology, API solubility in the polymeric matrix, and deviation from the Couchman⁻Karasz fit to, identify the influencing factors of the accuracy of the simulation using model-based melt viscosity. Furthermore, the energy consumption of the hot-melt extrusion (HME) experiments, conventional simulation, and simulation using model-based melt viscosity were compared. It was shown, with few exceptions, that the use of model-based melt viscosity in terms of the HME simulation did not reduce the accuracy of the computation outcome. The commercial one-dimensional (1D) simulation software Ludovic^® was used to conduct all of the numerical computation. As model excipients, vinylpyrrolidone-vinyl acetate copolymer (COP) in combination with four APIs (celecoxib, loratadine, naproxen, and praziquantel) were investigated to form the ASDs.