Crushing strength, disintegration time and weight variation of tablets compressed from three Avicel® PH grades and their mixtures

Tablets compressed from 16 different mixtures of Avicel® grades PH-101, PH-102 and PH-200 were studied using a mixture design. The crushing strength, disintegration time and weight variation of tablets were determined after compressing with an upper punch force up to 30 kN. The particle size and density parameters of the powders were the most important factors influencing the tablet properties. The higher the amount of Avicel® PH-101 in the mixture, the stronger and more resistant to disintegration were the tablets. A high proportion of Avicel® PH-101 also resulted in greater weight variation. Increasing the proportion of granular Avicel® PH-102 and, especially Avicel® PH-200, in the mixture resulted in tablets with a lower crushing strength, shorter disintegration time and smaller weight variation. Increasing the compression force resulted in stronger and more slowly disintegrating tablets. Mixing with Avicel® PH grades was found to be worth trying in optimization of weight variation, strength and disintegration properties of tablets.