POWDERS

IMPORTANCE OF KNOWING THE FLOW

PROPERTIES OF SOLID MATERIALS
 Flow properties of solids have great impact on
the tableting processes since their
manufacturing require flow of powder from a
storage container (hopper) to tablet dies
 Weight and content uniformity are also
dependent of flow of powders
 Flow properties of solids greatly influence the
mixing and demixing of powders
 Affects the speed of tablet production
 Affects the final product (weight, content
uniformity, hardness, disintegration and
dissolution
 FACTORS THAT AFFECT THE
FLOW PROPERTIES OF POWDERS
Physical characteristics External
• Size Humidity
• Shape Conveying
• Angularity environment
• Height Vibration
• Surface texture Aeration
• Porosity
• Hardness
 The flow properties of a material can
result from forces that can act between
solid particles including:
Frictional forces
Surface tension forces
Mechanical forces caused by
interlocking of particles of irregular
shape
Electrostatic forces
Cohesive or Van der Waals forces
 In general, powders with large particles (>100 um)
will be noncohesive, permeable and will probably
fluidize and will have low compressibility and
relatively low shear strength.
 Conversely, fine powders (<10 um) are likely to be
cohesive, compressible, contain much entrained air
and yet have poor aeration characteristics.
Generally, they have high shear strength, high flow
energy, low permeability and are very affected by
being consolidated when entrained air is excluded.
CHARACTERIZATION OF POWDER FLOW

ANGLE OF REPOSE

FLOW RATE THROUGH AN ORIFICE

CARR’S INDEX
 ANGLE OF REPOSE
 Defined as the angle of free surface of a pile of
powder to the horizontal plane and is
represented by the following equation:
tanθ=h/r
STATIC ANGLE OF REPOSE

FIXED FUNNEL FIXED CONE

METHOD METHOD
FLOW RATE THROUGH AN ORIFICE
 The simplest method of determining
powder flowability directly is to
measure the rate at which powder
discharges from an orifice
 This method is not useful for
cohesive materials and can be used
only for materials that have some
capacity to flow
 IMPROVEMENT OF FLOW
PROPERTY
Alteration of Alteration of Alteration of
particle size and particle particle
size distribution shape texture

Control of
Alteration of
moisture Temperature
surface forces
content

Formulation
Additives
 Glidants can improve the flow by any one or
combination of the following mechanisms:
 Dispersion of static charge from the surface of particles
 Adsorption of gases and vapors otherwise adsorbed unto
the host particle

 Physical separation and reduction in van der Waals

interactions

 Adhere to the surfaces of host powders, smoothing out

irregularities and reducing their tendency to interlock

 Minimizing friction between particles by adhering to powder

surface


 Carr’s index
 A simple indication of the ease with which a
material can be induced to flow is given by the
application of a compressibility index given by the
following equation:
 (tapped density- bulk density)/ Tapped density X 100
 (bulk volume- tapped volume)/bulk volume X 100

Hausner’s Ratio
Calculated by the formula:
 Tapped Density/Bulk Density
 Bulk Volume/Tapped Volume
 POROSITY
measure of the air spaces or voids in a
material
 BULKINESS
Reciprocal of bulk density