Understanding the compression–decompression cycle for pressure shaping of agglomerates
Providing new insights into pressure shaping of granules with special emphasis on refined methods for compression analysis.
Details
- Funder: Vinnova
Research scientist: Marilena Marinaki, PhD student
Principal Investigator: Professor Göran Frenning, Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Uppsala University
Scientific and industrial context. Both compressibility and compactibility of powders are nowadays well understood on a phenomenological level. However, an understanding of the relevance of processes that occur at the particle level is lacking and few, if any, truly mechanistic models of powder compression and compaction exist in the literature. It is here important to consider both the loading and unloading phases of particle/tablet formation to gain a complete understanding of the processes.
Aim. The aim of the project is to provide an understanding at the particle scale of the processes that control the structure and properties of granules formed by application and subsequent removal of pressure. The goal is to first develop protocols for analytical powder compression focusing on the unloading stage and secondly to develop contact models and modelling procedures that enable the full loading–unloading cycle to be simulated at the particle scale.
Outcome. It is expected that the project will provide new insights into pressure shaping of granules with special emphasis on refined methods for compression analysis and new methodology for simulation of powder compression at high relative densities.