A new method to evaluate the consolidation behavior of pharmaceutical materials by using the Fraser-Suzuki function.

A new method was developed to evaluate the consolidation behavior of different pharmaceutical materials. A method to evaluate the elastic deformation of the different parts of the tablet machine is described. The used model is based on the Fraser--Suzuki function, which was modified to fit the force-time course. This function has three parameters, which describe the consolidation behaviour of pharmaceutical materials. Parameter A (form of the increasing part of the force-time course) and tr parameter (time of force maximum) give qualitative evaluation of the irreversible deformation during the compression process. Parameter S (form of the decreasing part of the curve) describes the decompression phase and provides information about the elastic behaviour of the compressed material. In this article, the importance of the different parameters is presented. The applicability of this function to different kinds of ethylcellulose is also presented.