Measurement of the adhesive force of fine particles on tablet surfaces andmethod of their removal

The adhesion force of fine particles on the surface of tablets was measured by a centrifugal force and impact separation method. A Finededuster (FDD) was employed to remove fine particles from the tablet surface. The centrifu gal force and impact separation method was suggested to be effective for me asuring the adhesive forces between particles and the tablet surface, and e ffective disjoining force in the FDD could be estimated by comparison of th e results obtained using these two methods. The FDD showed high removal eff iciency regardless of how many tablets were processed at the same time. In either of these methods, critical particle size was about 10-20 mu m, and l arger particles were removed more efficiently. This critical particle size was similar to that observed for other mechanical properties of powders, su ch as angle of repose and flowability. We simulated particle residual perce ntage under various operation conditions by ANN (artificial neural network) analysis and multiple regression analysis. This simulation enabled us to p redict how the efficiency of particle removal is affected by the interactio n of the experimental and material factors.