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The purpose of the research was to introduce a procedure to derive a powder compression parameter (EM A) representing particle yield stress using an effective medium equation and to compare the EM A parameter with the Heckel compression parameter (1/K). 16 pharmaceutical powders, including drugs and excipients, were compressed in a materials testing instrument and powder compression profiles were derived using the EM and Heckel equations. The compression profiles thus obtained could be sub-divided into regions among which one region was approximately linear and from this region, the compression parameters EM A and 1/K were calculated. A linear relationship between the EM A parameter and the 1/K parameter was obtained with a strong correlation. The slope of the plot was close to 1 (0.84) and the intercept of the plot was small in comparison to the range of parameter values obtained. The relationship between the theoretical EM A parameter and the 1/K parameter supports the interpretation of the empirical Heckel parameter as being a measure of yield stress. It is concluded that the combination of Heckel and EM equations represents a suitable procedure to derive a value of particle plasticity from powder compression data., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Tablet production involves compression of free flowing powder in an enclosed cavity of defined geometry. The complexity of the powder bed system necessitates that a way be found to better understand what occurs during compression. One such approach is by means of compaction equations, of which, the Heckel and Kawakita equations are the best known. This work attempts to experimentally evaluate the applicability of the effective medium (EM) equation introduced by Frenning et al. (2009) to powder systems. Two powder types (sodium chloride and lactose monohydrate), each consisting of three size fractions (<40, 125-212 and 212-300μm) were characterised and compressed to a pressure of 500MPa. These powders were chosen because of their differing mechanical properties. An invariance which is inherent in the EM equation is exposed by varying the starting points of compression, and can yield insights into compression mechanisms. Such invariant regions were observed once plastic particle deformation started to dominate the compression behaviour, and enabled the determination of the point where particle rearrangement stops., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)