Predicting the Effectiveness of Glidants Used to Improve the Flowability of Cohesive Pharmaceutical Powders

This work focuses on understanding and predicting the flowability of pharmaceutical powders. Because well-flowing powders are critical to the successful manufacturing of tablets and capsules, this topic is of upmost importance in the area of drug product development. Special attention will be given to the role played by flow additives such as nano-sized silicon dioxide which are commonly known as glidants. Fundamental aspects such as inter-particle cohesion will be discussed with an emphasis on the relationship between material properties, particle-scale interactions, and bulk-scale behavior. Examples of success and failure experienced in practical application will be given to exemplify the complexity and difficulty in applying theoretical aspects to predicting powder flow behavior.