(725e) Characterizing the Effect of Particle Properties and Surface Topography Towards Pharmaceutical Powder and Surface Adhesion Using the Enhanced Centrifuge Method

The behavior of pharmaceutical powders during processing is impacted by the adhesion of the individual particles which comprise the powder. Problems such as poor flowability, dust hazards, and equipment wear arise due to uncontrolled particle adhesion and can lead to production challenges. This adhesion behavior, in turn, is critically influenced by the complementarity between the topography of a surface and the shape and topography of the particles that adhere to that surface. Computational models have been developed to predict the behavior of highly idealized powders (i.e. powders comprised of simple geometries such as spheres) under various processes but are limited in their ability to model and optimize the manufacturing and handling of powders comprised of many complex particles. This work focuses on quantifying the real particle property effects of particle size, shape, and topography of three pharmaceutical powders towards the adhesion of three pharmaceutical powders to stainless steel surfaces through a novel experimental and modeling framework called the enhanced centrifuge method that maps particle and surface scale properties onto experimentally-validated adhesion parameters. The result of this work is a validated semi-empirical model for the powder adhesion which describes the behavior of the full powder, across the full range of particle sizes and shapes, against the steel. This model is presented in terms of van der Waals forces, although the approach can be applied to describe capillary-, electrostatic-, or deformation-driven adhesion.

Disclosures:

Andrew Vogt, Maxx Capece and William Ketterhagen are employees of AbbVie and may own AbbVie stock. AbbVie and Purdue contributed to the design; participated in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, and in writing, reviewing and approval of the final presentation.