Tablet Shape Research Articles

The potential of three-dimensional printing for pediatric oral solid dosage forms.

Pediatric patients often require individualized dosing of medicine due to their unique pharmacokinetic and developmental characteristics. Current methods for tailoring the dose of pediatric medications, such as tablet splitting or compounding liquid formulations, have limitations in terms of dosing accuracy and palatability. This paper explores the potential of 3D printing as a solution to address the challenges and provide tailored doses of medication for each pediatric patient. The technological overview of 3D printing is discussed, highlighting various 3D printing technologies and their suitability for pharmaceutical applications. Several individualization options with the potential to improve adherence are discussed, such as individualized dosage, custom release kinetics, tablet shape, and palatability. To integrate the preparation of 3D printed medication at the point of care, a decentralized manufacturing model is proposed. In this setup, pharmaceutical companies would routinely provide materials and instructions for 3D printing, while specialized compounding centers or hospital pharmacies perform the printing of medication. In addition, clinical opportunities of 3D printing for dose-finding trials are emphasized. On the other hand, current challenges in adequate dosing, regulatory compliance, adherence to quality standards, and maintenance of intellectual property need to be addressed for 3D printing to close the gap in personalized oral medication.

Testing the disintegration and texture-related palatability predictions for orodispersible tablets using an instrumental tool coupled with multivariate analysis: Focus on process variables and analysis settings

Orodispersible tablets (ODTs) represent a growing category of dosage forms intended to increase the treatment acceptability for special groups of patients. ODTs are designed to rapidly disintegrate in the oral cavity and to be administered without water. In addition, ODTs are easy to manufacture using standard excipients and pharmaceutical equipment.This study adds to previously published research that developed an instrumental tool to predict oral disintegration and texture-related palatability of ODTs with different formulations. The current study aimed to challenge the predictive capacity of the models under variable process conditions. The studied process parameters with potential impact on the pharmaceutical properties, texture profiles, and palatability were the compression pressure, punch shape and diameter. Subsequently, for all the placebo and drug-loaded ODTs, the in vivo disintegration time and texture-related palatability were determined with healthy volunteers.Previously developed regression models were applied to predict the formulation's disintegration time and texture-related palatability characteristics of ODTs obtained under different experimental conditions. The influence of process variables on the predictive performance of the models was estimated by calculating the residuals as the difference between the predicted and observed values for the investigated response. Increasing the speed of the analyser`s probe from 0.01 mm/s to 0.02 mm/s led to an improved differentiation of the texture profiles. The in vivo disintegration time and texture-related palatability scores were only influenced by the mechanical resistance and the tablet shape. Lower score was observed for the larger diameter tablets (10 mm). Overall, the prediction of the disintegration time at 0.02 mm/s was more accurate, except for stronger tablets. The best prediction of texture-related palatability was achieved for the 10 mm tablets, tested at 0.01 mm/s speed.The same model achieved good predictions of the oral disintegration time for all API-loaded formulations, which confirmed the ability of the texture analysis to capture process-related variability. Drug loading decreased the predictive capacity of the texture-related palatability because of the taste effect.

Parameter optimization and simulation verification of polyurea/ceramic bionic staggered composite structures

The optimization of the contradiction between the toughness and strength of nacre has become a focus of attention for material researchers. In the present work, objective functions for several parameters, such as tablet shape (flat and wavy), dimensions (length, thickness, dovetail angle), mechanical properties (modulus of elasticity, shear modulus), overlap length of layers, and matrix thickness, were established from the three basic mechanical properties of the bionic mother-of-pearl structure (stiffness, strength, and toughness). Subsequently, the objective function was iteratively optimized using the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA II) based on the constraint function. Finally, a numerical simulation model was developed using the key parameters derived from the structural optimization to investigate the penetration performance of a 12.7 mm projectile on different structures. Comparing the damage failure scenario, penetration resistance, ballistic performance, and energy absorption efficiency of different structures, it was found that after parameter optimization, wave-staggered composite plate reduced the penetration depth by 31.61 %, improved the ballistic limit by 27.21 %, and enhanced the energy absorption efficiency of ceramic by 8.30 % compared to the block plate.

DEM-DDM investigation of the intra-tablet coating uniformity for tablets with different shapes

Coating uniformity is important for the quality, safety, and efficacy of tablets in the pharmaceutical industry. Among the various research methods, discrete element method (DEM) is a powerful tool for numerically investigating the coating process in particle level, increasing the understanding of coating uniformity and improving related processes. In this study, the combination of DEM and discrete droplet method (DDM) is applied for the simulation of tablet coating process, including the intra-tablet coating uniformity of differently shaped tablets. The biconvex tablets are described by multi-super-ellipsoid approach in this study. In order to obtain the coating thickness distribution on each tablet, two particle surface-based meshing methods are proposed. The proposed intra-tablet DEM-DDM coating model is subsequently verified by the qualitative comparison with both theoretical models and experimental results from other literature. Finally, the influence of tablet shape on the intra-tablet coating uniformity is investigated, including tablets with different aspect ratios and height ratios.

In-situ hydrothermal synthesis of a novel morphology daisy shape nickel cobalt oxide films for high performance supercapattery

NiCo2O4 is widely used in traditional battery and supercapattery due to its extremely high capacitance value. Herein, the in-situ hydrothermal method has been optimized in order to utilize its own charge storage capacity. NiCo2O4 nanosheet thin films with four different morphologies (wrap, neuron, daisy, and tablet shape) are synthesized on Ni foam surface without mechanical stress damage. In the absence of interference from conductive agents and binders, these NiCo2O4 nanosheet thin films with different morphologies provide various conducive channels for charge transfer and more sites for redox reactions achieve better energy storage properties. Particularly, the daisy shape NiCo2O4 nanosheets have the highest capacity (C g−1) of 972.5 (2 M KOH) at 1 A g−1 comparing to others. Furthermore, after subjecting it to 1800 cycles of cyclic stability testing at 40 A g−1, its capacity (C g−1) remarkably increased to 1433.5. In addition, using the daisy shape NiCo2O4 nanosheets thin film and activated carbon, a supercapattery is assembled. The results exhibit that it has an impressive performance of 39.8 W h kg−1 at 750 W kg−1 comparing to other works, which demonstrates that our in-situ hydrothermal synthesized daisy shape NiCo2O4 nanosheet has significant potential in the field of energy storage.

A Review on Mouth Dissolving Tablet

Nowadays, dysphagia is an issue with traditional dosage forms like tablets and capsules, which leads to a high prevalence of non-compliance and renders therapy ineffective. Mouth dissolving tablets, which have good hardness, dose homogeneity, and ease of administration and serve as the preferred option of dosage form for paediatrics, geriatrics, and travelling patients, have been designed to eliminate the issues associated with conventional dosage forms. In order to have enough hardness, integrity, and speed up disintegration without water, the MDTs were invented. rapid dissolution Without the use of water, tablets easily dissolve or disintegrate in saliva. Some tablets are truly fast-dissolving tablets because they are made to dissolve in saliva amazingly quickly—within a few seconds. Others have additives that speed up the process of Tablet disintegration in the oral cavity is more properly referred to as fast-disintegrating tablets because it can take them up to a minute to do so. This tablet shape was created to make it possible to administer an oral solid dose form without drinking any liquids. These tablets easily dissolve or break down in the saliva, usually in under 60 seconds.

Influence of Solid Oral Dosage Form Characteristics on Swallowability, Visual Perception, and Handling in Older Adults.

Swallowability, visual perception, and any handling to be conducted prior to use are all influence factors on the acceptability of an oral dosage form by the patient. Knowing the dosage form preferences of older adults, as the major group of medication end users, is needed for patient-centric drug development. This study aimed at evaluating the ability of older adults to handle tablets as well as to assess the anticipated swallowability of tablets, capsules, and mini tablets based on visual perception. The randomized intervention study included 52 older adults (65 to 94 years) and 52 younger adults (19 to 36 years). Within the tested tablets, ranging from 125 mg up to 1000 mg in weight and being of different shapes, handling was not seen as the limiting factor for the decision on appropriate tablet size. However, the smallest sized tablets were rated worst. According to visual perception, the limit of acceptable tablet size was reached at around 250 mg for older adults. For younger adults, this limit was shifted to higher weights and was dependent on the tablet shape. Differences in anticipated swallowability with respect to tablet shapes were most pronounced for tablets of 500 mg and 750 mg in weight, independent of the age category. Capsules performed worse compared to tablets, while mini tablets appeared as a possible alternative dosage form to tablets of higher weight. Within the deglutition part of this study, swallowability capabilities of the same populations were assessed and have been reported previously. Comparing the present results with the swallowing capabilities of the same populations with respect to tablets, it shows adults' clear self-underestimation of their ability to swallow tablets independent of their age.

An overview of poly(vinyl alcohol) and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) in pharmaceutical additive manufacturing

AbstractRecently, drug personalization has received noticeable attention. Problems arising from standard generalized drug treatments have aroused over the years, particularly among pediatric and geriatric patients. The growing awareness of the limitations of the “one‐size‐fits‐all” approach has progressively led to a rethinking of the current medicine's development, laying the basis of personalized medicine. Three‐dimensional printing is a promising tool for realizing personalized therapeutic solutions fitting specific patient needs. This technology offers the possibility to manufacture drug delivery devices with tailored doses, sizes, and release characteristics. Among additive manufacturing techniques, fused deposition modeling (FDM) is the most studied for oral drug delivery device production due to its high precision and cheapness. By playing with factors such as drug loading method, filament production, and printing parameters, the medication release profile of a drug delivery device produced by 3D printing can be tailored depending on the patient's requirements. This review focuses on the applications of FDM in drug fabrication using poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) as drug‐loaded matrices. The authors aim to provide an overview of the current trends in this research field, with special attention to the effect of the printing parameters, tablet shape, and drug distribution and concentration on drug customization and personalized drug release.

Bisphenol-A-Carbon Nanotube Nanocomposite: Interfacial DFT Prediction and Experimental Strength Testing.

Epoxies, their derivatives, and composites, due to superior specific strength, are preferred for many potential applications in the field of automobiles, aircraft, bonding of structures, protective coatings, water filtration, etc. As structural members in automobiles and aircraft, the epoxy-based components are exposed to various static/dynamic mechanical loading conditions during their service life. The interfacial interactions, between the matrix and reinforcement, greatly affect the final properties of the composites. The present study demonstrates that the solvent used for the preparation of the composite can also contribute toward interfacial interactions. Present research systematically finds out a suitable solvent (acetone) and reinforcement type [multi-walled carbon nanotube (CNT)] for epoxy [bisphenol-A (BPA)] nanocomposites. Dynamic and static strengths of the as-prepared epoxy-CNT nanocomposites were carefully investigated. Well dispersed CNTs in acetone were mixed with an ester of BPA under constant magnetic stirring conditions. Samples of tablet shape were prepared for testing static and dynamic performance of the composite using a nano-indentation technique. Considerable enhancement by 55 and 22% in the static elastic modulus and hardness of BPA-CNT composites, respectively, was observed (compared with that of pristine BPA). The storage modulus and tan-delta of the nanocomposites were also improved by 14 and 46%, respectively. Improved static and dynamic performance, reported in this work, significantly enhances the scope of utilization of BPA-CNT-based nanocomposites under severe static and dynamic loading conditions simultaneously. Static and dynamical analysis of CNT-reinforced epoxy provides more realistic understanding of the mechanical performance of the nanocomposite. Density functional theory (using QuantumATK software) simulations were performed to investigate and identify the alterations in the atomic morphology of CNTs during interfacial interaction with the acetone molecule and epoxy matrix. The calculations predicted that CNTs with mild defects as compared to pristine CNTs were better suited for synthesis of the nanocomposite and also assisted in a homogeneous distribution of CNTs in BPA without aggregation (with acetone as the solvent). Furthermore, structural changes in CNTs after treatment with BPA and the curing agent and the role of defects are studied in detail.

Experimental investigation of combustion instability and NOx emissions control by adjustable swirl jet in lean premixed flames

This paper investigated the feasibility of using an adjustable swirl jet to control combustion instability and pollutant NOx emissions. The impact of three control variables of swirl jet media, swirl jet angles, and jet flow rates were discussed and analyzed. The results show that the adjustable swirl jet can realize the simultaneous control of thermoacoustic oscillation and NOx emissions. The suppression of dynamic pressure and flame heat release rate CH∗ presents three response states with the change of jet flow rate: high-amplitude oscillation, low-amplitude oscillation and stable combustion state. The experiment also indicates that the suppression effect when using Ar, co-swirl jet and high swirl jet intensity is better than that of He, counter-swirl jet and low swirl jet intensity, respectively. When using the Ar co-swirl jet with a swirl jet angle of 60°, the pressure control reaches a maximum drop of 39.7 Pa. The reduction of pollutant NOx emissions under the He swirl jet is smaller than that of the Ar swirl jet. The NOx emissions reach the maximum decrease of 9.2 ppm under the action of the Ar counter-swirl jet. Meanwhile, the flame shape under the Ar swirl jet changes significantly, switching from a cap to a tablet shape. The Ar counter-swirl jet reduces the flame length considerably by 49 mm. These findings demonstrate that the adjustable swirl jet strategy can simultaneously mitigate combustion instability and NOx emissions, which may be conducive to the operation of premixed flame.

Hot-Melt Extrusion–Based Fused Deposition Modeling 3D Printing of Atorvastatin Calcium Tablets: Impact of Shape and Infill Density on Printability and Performance

The main objective of the current research was to investigate the effect of tablet shapes (heart-shaped and round tablets) and infill densities (50% and 100%) on the drug release profiles of 3D printed tablets prepared by hot-melt extrusion paired with fused deposition modeling techniques. Drug-loaded filaments of 1.5mm and 2.5mm diameters were extruded using a Process 11mm hot-melt extruder employing atorvastatin calcium as a model drug and Kollicoat® IR, Kollidon® VA64, Kollidon® 12PF, and Kolliphor® P407 as hydrophilic polymers. Filaments of Kollicoat® IR in combination with Kollidon® VA64/Kollidon® 12PF has resulted in successful printing of immediate release tablets. The mechanical properties of drug-loaded filaments were evaluated using a 3-point bend test and stiffness test. The transformation of a crystalline drug to an amorphous form and the absence of drug-polymer interactions were confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, respectively. The effect of infill density on drug release profiles was greater than that of tablet shape. The stability of 3D printed tablets was preserved even after storage under accelerated conditions (40 ± 2°C and 75 ± 5% RH) for 6months. Thus, the 3D printing process of hot-melt extrusion paired with fused deposition modeling serves as an alternative manufacturing approach for developing patient-focused doses.

Itraconazole Amorphous Solid Dispersion Tablets: Formulation and Compaction Process Optimization Using Quality by Design Principles and Tools.

BCS Class II drugs, such as itraconazole (ITZ), exhibit poor solubility (1-4 ng/mL) and so require solubility enhancement. Therefore, ITZ and Kollidon® VA64 (KOL) amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs) were produced using hot-melt extrusion (HME) to improve ITZ's poor solubility. A novel strategy for tablet formulations using five inorganic salts was investigated (KCl, NaCl, KBr, KHCO3 and KH2PO4). These kosmotopric salts are thought to compete for water hydration near the polymer chain, hence, preventing polymer gelation and, therefore, facilitating disintegration and dissolution. Out of all the formulations, the KCl containing one demonstrated acceptable tensile strength (above 1.7 MPa), whilst providing a quick disintegration time (less than 15 min) and so was selected for further formulation development through a design of the experiment approach. Seven ITZ-KOL-ASD formulations with KCl were compacted using round and oblong punches. Round tablets were found to disintegrate under 20 min, whereas oblong tablets disintegrated within 10 min. The round tablets achieved over 80% ITZ release within 15 min, with six out of seven formulations achieving 100% ITZ release by 30 min. It was found that tablets comprising high levels of Avicel® pH 102 (30%) and low levels of KCl (5%) tend to fail the disintegration target due to the strong bonding capacity of Avicel® pH 102. The disintegration time and tensile strength responses were modeled to obtain design spaces (DSs) relevant to both round and oblong tablets. Within the DS, several formulations can be chosen, which meet the Quality Target Product Profile (QTPP) requirements for immediate-release round and oblong tablets and allow for flexibility to compact in different tablet shape to accommodate patients' needs. It was concluded that the use of inorganic salts, such as KCl, is the key to producing tablets of ITZ ASDs with fast disintegration and enhanced dissolution. Overall, ITZ-KOL-ASD tablet formulations, which meet the QTPP, were achieved in this study with the aid of Quality by Design (QbD) principles for formulation and compaction process development and optimization.

Development of Floating 3D-Printed Devices for Carvedilol Tablet

A floating drug delivery device is one type of gastro-retentive drug delivery system (GRDDS). Carvedilol (CAR) is poorly soluble in alkaline pH (intestinal environment) and has good solubility in the acidic pH (stomach environment). Hence, floating 3D-printed devices (FD) were developed from polylactic acid (PLA) filaments using fused deposition modeling (FDM) and designed to be a tablet shape with an anti-flip-up property as GRDDS of carvedilol tablets. There were two parts of FD, including the cap and the base. The base was designed with different hole diameters (2.5, 3.5, and 4.5 mm) for a controlled drug release. The FD had a smooth texture and white color. All the FD showed the anti-flip-up property. The drug release showed that the FD with 2.5- and 3.5-mm hole diameters had the potential to control the drug release. The CAR tablet-incorporated FD with a 3.5 mm hole diameter showed an optimal sustained-release profile, 99.8 % of drug release in 10 h. Moreover, zero-order kinetic was achieved. Therefore, this device may be promising to provide an extended drug release in the stomach.

Mechanochemical Effect on Controlled Drug Release of Konjac Glucomannan Matrix Tablets during Dry Grinding

To design a controlled drug release preparation based on a safe natural material, a Konjac glucomannan (KGM) mixture containing 16.0 w/w% calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) was ground in a planetary ball mill for 0–120 min. The mechanochemical effect on the physicochemical properties of the KGM ground product was investigated by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), powder X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and drug release testing. The FT-IR spectra of the ground KGM indicated that the deacetylation reaction of KGM was accelerated in the Ca(OH)2-containing sols by mechanochemical energy, and the degree of deacetylation of KGM was dependent on the grinding time. The time required for tablet disintegration of the KGM matrix tablets containing theophylline increased as the grinding time increased; therefore, drug release was sustained. The Higuchi plots of the matrix tablets obtained from KGM ground for 60–120 min exhibited good linearity because they maintained their gel matrix tablet shape during the release test. However, KGM tablets ground for 0–30 min exhibited nonlinear curves, which were caused by tablet disintegration. This suggests that drug release from the KGM matrix tablet can be freely controlled by the degree of mechanochemical treatment.

Effect of silymarin on liver size and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in morbidly obese patients: A randomized double-blind clinical trial.

A large liver size is a factor that may increase the difficulty of bariatric surgery (BS) and unwanted complications. Some agents have been used to decrease the liver size before BS. Silymarin has been used as an antioxidant agent to improve liver function tests. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of silymarin on liver dimensions, function, and lipid profile. A double-blind randomized clinical trial was performed on 56 patients. The patients were divided into silymarin and placebo groups. Blood samples and sonographic examinations were taken from the patients before and 4 weeks after the administration of the silymarin or placebo. In the first group, 140 mg silymarin was prescribed every 8 h for 4 weeks, and the other group received placebo in the same way with the same tablet shape. After the completion of the 4-week treatment, laboratory tests and ultrasonography were carried out again. Thirty-nine (69.6%) patients were female with a mean body mass index (BMI) of 46.2 kg/m2 and a mean age of 36.8 years. Most of the patients had a compliance of 80% and higher. The analysis did not show any significant difference in aspartate transaminase, alkaline transaminase, liver size, cholesterol, and triglyceride changes among the silymarin and placebo groups. BMI loss was slightly higher in the silymarin group although the difference was not statistically significant. The present findings show that silymarin administration for 4 weeks does not affect liver size and function, but further evaluations should be carried out on the subject.

Interrelationships Between Coating Uniformity and Efficiency in Pan Coating Processes.

The relationships between coating uniformity and efficiency were explored for tablet coating processes in pan coaters. The factors affecting the size of the spray zone were modeled using one-dimensional deposition analysis of spray droplets. This model was incorporated into the analytical model developed for coating uniformity by Choi et al. (AAPS PharmSciTech 22(7), 2021) that farther elucidated the effects of tablet shape and bed porosity. The results were compared with literature data on coating efficiency. The variables examined included tablet shape and size, coating time, pan speed, atomizing and pattern air flow rates, bed porosity, spray rate, batch size, coating solution concentration, spray gun-to-bed distance, and pan diameter. It is shown that, except for pan diameter and atomizing air flow rate, variables that improve coating efficiency adversely affected coating uniformity and vice versa. Implications of these relationships are discussed to improve formulation, process, and equipment designs.

Dexamethasone delivery of porous PEG-PCL-PEG scaffolds with supercritical carbon dioxide gas foaming

Triblock copolymers of PEG-PCL-PEG (PEGCL) were fabricated using ring opening polymerization (ROP) of ϵ-caprolactone. 1H NMR and FTIR spectra of the PEGCL triblock were used to confirm the structure and determine the molecular weight. The peaks from –OCH3 and –CH2CH2O- in PEG blocks and –(CH2)3–, –COCH2-, and –CH2OCO- within PCL blocks were determined. PEGCL powder was mixed with dexamethasone (DXMT) and then compressed applying a hydraulic pressure of 9 × 10 −2 MPa, which resulted in the formation of disc-like tablets. Following that, the scaffolds with tablet shape were placed into the scCO2 gas foaming apparatus. Central composite design (CCD) was used to obtain the maximum porosity % with the scCO2 variables of soaking time (ts), pressure (P), temperature (T), and time required to depressurize (td). At the maximum porosity % (79.18%), P, T, Ts, and Td were 234 bar, 49 °C, 2.0 h, and 5 min, respectively. Cumulative in-vitro drug release assay revealed that at post-scCO2 treatment, the scaffolds delivered an almost complete release (79.18 ± 1.39%) while at pre-scCO2 treatment, release percentage was 41.07 ± 1.72% after 30 days. This confirmed suitable release time and properties for controlled delivery of the dexamethasone loaded in PEG-PCL-PEG (PEGCL) triblock copolymer-based scaffolds. So, using the scCO2 gas foaming method provides the possibility to construct morphologically and structurally adjustable porous PEG-PCL-PEG scaffolds.

Impact of Tablet Shape on Drug Dissolution Rate Through Immediate Released Tablets.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of the geometric shape on the dissolution rate of the domperidone, a drug model for immediate release dosage form. In this regard, a lack of sufficient information about the effective dissolution rate of the drugs regarding their shapes has made this issue an interesting subject for researchers. Methods: For this purpose, three tablet shapes, namely flat and biconvex both in a round and oblong shapes, with different four sizes were modelled for the preparation of domperidone tablet. In vitro dissolution test was accomplished using a USP dissolution apparatus II. The drug dissolution rate was assessed by calculating various dissolution parameters; e.g., dissolution efficiency (DE), mean dissolution rate (MDR), mean dissolution time (MDT), and difference and similarity factors (f1 and f2 ). Results: Regarding the disintegration time, the larger tablets showed a faster disintegration time. When the size of the tablets was smaller, the amount of released drug was significantly decreased. In addition, #9 tablets with a flat or biconvex geometry had obvious effects on the DE values. Generally, biconvex tablets had higher DE percentage than the flat tablets. Conclusion: Noticeable differences in dissolution parameters by considering the different geometric shapes play an important role in the drug release kinetics which makes a significant effect on quick onset of action in oral administration.

Quality by design (QbD) approach to match tablet glossiness

A quality by design (QbD) approach was used for a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-based coating to develop a ‘look-alike’ placebo tablet, which can match the glossiness (shine) of an innovator tablet. Critical coating parameters such as exhaust temperature, drying capacity, solid concentration in coating dispersion, and plasticizer concentration were studied using a full factorial design of experiment (DoE). Total of 20 experimental coating runs was executed on a pilot scale using a perforated pan coater. Coated tablets were evaluated visually against the innovator product by a panel of 13 volunteers using an individual questionnaire about the tablet appearance. The tablet appearance included factors such as tablet surface shine, surface roughness, and logo bridging. These data were analyzed using JMP software. Solid concentration in coating dispersion and drying capacity were found to be the key contributing parameters for tablet surface shine. Human observations were more discerning in spotting subtle differences in tablet appearance than Munsell evaluation. By the judicious selection of a solid concentration in coating dispersion and drying conditions, a look-alike placebo tablet was successfully developed. Change in tablet shape or size did not affect the tablet shine. However, replacement of PVA-based coating with hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC)-based coating resulted in reduced shine irrespective of tablet shape and size.

Analysis of Effects of Machining Parameters on Surface Roughness in Electrical Discharge Machining Tablet Shape Punches Using Taguchi Method

This paper presents a study on analysis of influences of the surface roughness in Electrical Discharge Machining 90CrSi tablet shape punches with the use of copper electrode. In this paper, 9 experimental runs were designed and conducted by using Taguchi method. In addition, 4 process parameters including the gap voltage, the pulse current, the pulse on time and the pulse off time were investigated. The influences of these input parameters on the surface roughness were evaluated by analysing variance. Also, from the experimental results, optimum values of the input parameters for getting the minimum surface roughness were proposed.