Modeling of High-Density Compaction of Pharmaceutical Tablets Using Multi-Contact Discrete Element Method

Area of Science:

• Pharmaceutical Engineering
• Materials Science
• Computational Mechanics

Background:

• Understanding powder compaction is crucial for pharmaceutical formulation.
• Conventional discrete element methods (DEM) have limitations in capturing complex particle interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To simulate pharmaceutical powder compaction at the microscopic scale.
• To understand the mechanical forces between particles and predict compression profiles.
• To develop a new multi-contact discrete element method (MC-DEM) framework.

Main Methods:

• Applied the multi-contact discrete element method (MC-DEM) framework.
• Introduced and implemented a novel adhesive elastic-plastic multi-contact model.
• Studied uniaxial compaction of microcrystalline cellulose under high confining conditions.
• Developed a two-stage calibration strategy for MC-DEM parameters.

Main Results:

• The MC-DEM framework explicitly accounts for multiple contacts on a single particle.
• Successfully captured key compressibility characteristics of pharmaceutical materials.
• Provided accurate predictions of compression profiles at high relative densities.

Conclusions:

• The novel MC-DEM framework enhances the simulation of pharmaceutical powder compaction.
• This approach offers improved understanding and prediction of powder behavior.
• The developed methodology facilitates model calibration for accurate simulations.