In the development and production of tablets, powder compression is a complex and decisive process. Technical parameters such as pre-compression, main compression and ejection force must be precisely matched to the desired product properties – for example, the density and breaking strength of the tablets. Particularly in the case of new formulation developments in laboratories, problems concerning brittleness or adhesive properties occur time and again, sometimes resulting in high costs.
This can be remedied by a new series of powder compaction analyzing units (PCA units) that Fette Compacting now distributes together with its British cooperation partner Gamlen: the F Lab Series is extremely economical in terms of space and material. It enables rapid testing of ingredients and formulations, and its software allows fully-automatic analysis of the compression process, so that formulations can be optimized easily and in a resource-saving way during the development stage. Handling the unit and software is easy to learn – usually in less than two hours. The F Lab Series is available in two versions: with an operating load of up to 500 (F Lab 5) and 1,000 kilograms (F Lab 10).
The data obtained can be used to reduce material costs and shorten times for upscaling and time-to-market. In addition, the PCA unit is ideal for further deepen the product knowledge during ongoing production and to finding the best solution more quickly when troubleshooting.
