Water Uptake and Disintegrating Force Measurements: Towards a General Understanding of Disintegration Mechanisms

Abstract

Water penetration and disintegrating force measurements were combined with the aim of assessing the role played by various mechanisms in the disintegration process.Nine tablet series, made of differing base materials (α-lactose monohydrate, dicalcium phosphate dihydrate and acetylsalicylic acid) such as are likely to elicit differing disintegration mechanisms and containing differing disintegrates in varying percentages were prepared and checked for Water penetration, disintegrating force development and disintegration time.The results obtained show that, in tablets made of dicalcium phosphate dihydrate or acetylsalicylic acid, a correlation exists between disintegration time and disintegrating force kinetics, which indicates that active mechanisms play the prevailing role in the disintegration process.On the contrary, the lack of such a correlation in lactose monohydrate tablets indicates that passive mechanisms are also involved in the disintegration process and prevail over active mechanisms. In this case, water penetration rate, rather than disintegrating force development rate, seems to be the governing factor in the disintegration process.