Investigation of the bonding mechanisms in agglomerates and compacts to enable next-generation formulated product design

粉末压制被广泛应用于陶瓷、电池、洗涤剂、食品和制药等多个工业部门。片剂通常由粉末直接压制或颗粒中间体压制而成。片剂的足够物理强度对于保持片剂的质量至关重要，因为片剂在制造过程、运输和货架期期间能够抵抗破裂、磨损和碎屑。目前，这种片剂的设计是通过对配方变体进行耗时的反复试验来完成的。由于可以实际进行的此类实验的数量有限，很容易得出没有真正优化的配方。提出了一种机械方法，以更好地理解实现和保持平板电脑完整性所涉及的力/键。在过去的几十年里，已经进行了许多关于粉末压实中涉及的结合机制的研究，每一项研究都得出了不同的、往往相互矛盾的结论。这突出了这一挑战，并支持采用更基本的配方设计方法的提议，以期增加配方产品“第一次正确”开发和制造的可能性。阿斯利康希望在更好地了解基本结合机制的基础上，开发一种配方产品设计的整体方法。这种方法的预期好处将是缩短开发时间、提高产品质量和制造过程的健壮性。

Powder compaction is widely used in several industrial sectors, such as ceramics, batteries, detergents, food, and pharmaceuticals. Tablets are most commonly made by either direct compression of powder or compression of a granular intermediate. Adequate physical strength of tablets is essential to maintain the quality of tablets by resisting fracture, abrasion, and chipping during manufacturing processes, transportation and shelf life. Currently the design of such tablet formulations is done by time-consuming trial-and-error experiments of formulation variants. Due to limitations in the number of such experiments that can be realistically performed, it is easy to arrive at formulations that are not truly optimised. A mechanistic approach to better understand the forces/bonds involved in achieving and maintaining tablet integrity is proposed. There have been many studies carried out over the last few decades related to bonding mechanisms involved in powder compacts, each reaching different and often conflicting conclusions. This highlights the challenge and supports the proposal for a more fundamental approach to formulation design with a view to increasing the possibility of 'right first time' development and manufacture of formulated products.AstraZeneca would like to develop a holistic approach to formulated product design based on better understanding of fundamental bonding mechanisms. The anticipated benefits of such an approach would be reduced development times, increased product quality and robustness of manufacturing processes.