GET A BETTER
UNDERSTANDING
OF HOW POWDERS
WILL BEHAVE

The Gamlen® D-Series is an additional and valuable supplement in the preformulation toolbox in our department. Its small size makes it possible to place the device beneath the laminar flow bench and thereby also high potent compounds can be safely examined. It is an easy to handle device which works with very small amounts of material and is therefore suitable already early in development.

We were interested in the D series instrument as it is more versatile than a hydraulic single station tablet press. In particular, we find the controlled compaction conditions and the data recording very useful. Compression, ejection, and detachment data can be measured with precision accuracy but at the same time the machine is easy to operate.

The GTP allows you to understand the relationship between the properties of substances, the composition of a formulation and the manufacturing process. Another useful GTP-1 feature is that the press allows determination of tablet hardness across a range of sizes. With this information, the production process can be optimised easily and faster whilst using only small amounts of material.

Thus, problems predicted by the GTP-1 were confirmed in actual tableting. We would therefore be able to design tablet formulations that avoid tableting failures at the commercial scale by optimizing the composition through evaluation on the GTP-1. We would also be able to scale up production on the same basis.

The successful application of using only minimal quantities of material on a bench top press to understand manufacturing on a rotary press was borne out in this work. Tablets of different size and geometry could be compared using tensile strength and solid fraction measurements. Tablet failure on commercial rotary presses could be predicted accurately by the measurement of ejection shear stress data on the small scale.

We were impressed with the way the Gamlen Tablet Press could simulate a number of conditions that real tablet production involves, without requiring high volumes.  For a teaching environment, we need to be able to manufacture small batches, at high frequency and by various different users and this machine has been able to meet these needs.

The GTP helps us to speed up tablet compression screening in reformulation projects aimed at replacing the wet granulation by roller compaction and I am looking forward to the GTP-1 helping us in our research project involving the study of glidant action during the secondary compression of dry-granulated product.

The Gamlen D series tablet press has become a standard part of Materials Science characterisation for commercial products. We have used it to evaluate API manufacturing process changes, investigate tablet manufacturing problems and to compare material suppliers.