Degree of compression as a potential process control tool of tablet tensile strength

The current view on the development and manufacturing of pharmaceutical preparations points towards improved control tools that can be implemented in pharmaceutical manufacturing as a means to better control end product properties. The objective of this paper was to investigate the relationship between tablet tensile strength and the degree of bed compression in order to evaluate the suitability of assessing the straining of the powder bed during tableting as a process control tool of tablet tensile strength. Microcrystalline cellulose was used as powder raw material and subjected to wet granulation by different procedures to create agglomerates of different physical and compression properties. The produced agglomerates thus showed a large variation in compressibility and compactibility. However, in terms of the relationship between the degree of compression and the tablet tensile strength, all agglomerates gathered reasonably around a single general relationship. The degree of compression hence appears to be a potential valuable process control tool of the tablet tensile strength that may enable the use of an adaptive tableting process with improved product quality consistency.