Rapidly disintegrating tablets prepared by the wet compression method: mechanism and optimization.

To make rapidly disintegrating tablets with sufficient mechanical integrity, tablets were prepared by compressing wet granules under low compression force and then drying the resulting wet mass in a circulating-air oven (wet compression method). Lactose with various particle sizes was used as the excipient, and water was used as a wetting agent. The effect of drying time, compression force, size of lactose particles, and moisture content of wet granules on tablet properties indicated that the formation and disintegration time of tablets were related to the effect of the formation of solid bridges between lactose particles. By optimizing compression force, size of lactose particles, and moisture content of the granules, tablets meeting tensile strength greater than 0.5 MPa and disintegration time shorter than 15 s were obtained by the wet compression method.