(253c) Multifaceted Characterization of Flow, Fluidization and Packing Properties of Pharmaceutical Powders for Discerning the Influence of Surface Modification

Typically, many Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) are extremely cohesive which adversely affects manufacturing processes such as feeding, blending, tabletting and leads to inferior quality of the product. In this work, different pharmaceutical powders (several APIs and excipients) of varying size range are considered for flow improment via surface modification. The main focus of this presentation is on their detailed characterization. Morphology, size and size distribution of these powders are characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and laser diffraction (Sympatec Helos/Rodos) respectively. To study the flow behavior of these powders, flow characterization is performed using angle of repose (AoR), bulk and tapped density, critical outlet diameter via flodex, Vibration Packed Density (VPD) and shear testing (Freeman FT4).

The results obtained from various measurements like AoR, Carr Index, Hausner ratio, Bulk Densit, Flow Function Coefficient (FFC) are correlated, and are represented as various phase maps involving crucial flow parameters, intended to provide characterization of flow and fluidization behavior. The results are intended to provide an insight into the working ranges of the different powder testers and to understand the flow behavior of the pharmaceutical powders with and without surface modification. The results presented are expected to have an impact on the formulation development of poorly flowing APIs.