SOUTHEAST UNIVERSITY

Final Exam

On

Micromeritics

Course Title

Basic pharmaceutics and dosage form design

Course code

BPH227.2

Submitted to

shirajum munira

Submitted by

Tasmin chowdhury

Id: 2019000300057 (33B)

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Index page

1. Definition……………………………………………………………………………..3
2. Significance of Micromeritics
(Release and dissolution, absorption and drug action, physical stability, Dose
formity…………………………………………………………………………………3-4
3. Methods of determining particle
 (Sieving (Method 1), Advantages, and Disadvantages
 Sedimentation (method 2), Advantages, Disadvantages…………………..4-6
4. Laser Diffraction method (Method 3), Advantages, disadvantages………………6-7
5. Powder properties, Porosity.Density, True density, bulkiness…………………….7-8
6. Flow property…………………………………………………………………………9
7. Test to evaluate flow ability of powders…………………………………………….9-10
8. Hausner ratio, angle of repose…………………………………………………10-11

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Definition

It is the science of small particles, a particle is any unit of matter having defined physical
dimensions. It is important to study particles because most drug dosage forms are solid, solids
are not static system, the physical state of particles can be altered by physical manipulation and
particle characteristics can alter therapeutic effectiveness.

Significance of Micromeritics

• Release and dissolution

Particle size and surface area influence the release of a drug from a dosage from that is
administered orally, rectally, parentally and tropically. Higher surface area brings about intimate
contact of the drug with the higher dissolution fluids in vivo and increases the drug solubity and
dissolution.

Absorption and drug action

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 Particle size and surface area influence the drug absorption and subsequently the therapeutic
action. The higher the dissolution, the faster the absorption and hence the quicker and greater the
drug action.

Physical Stability

Micromeritic properties of a particle, i.e. . The particle size in a formulation, influence the
physical stability of the suspensions and emulsions. The smaller the size of the particle, the better
the physical stability of the dosage from owing to the Brownian motion of the particles in the
dispersion.

Dose Uniformity

Good flow properties of granules and powders are important in the manufacturing of tablets
and capsules. The distribution of particles should be uniform in terms of number and weight.
Very small particle size causes attraction, which in turn destibilises the suspension by
coagulating.

Methods of determining particle size

• Sieving (Method 1)

A series of sieves (screens made of a woven cloth of stainless steel with rectangular openings
of uniform size) are stacked on top of each other in order of size, and a sample is introduced on
the top (the coarsest sieve). As the particles fall through the column, aided by vibration, the

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weight of material retained on each sieve produces a crude distribution of sizes

Advantages

The method is simple and inexpensive, and inspires great confidence in the results.

Disadvantages

It is practically impossible to measure sprays or emulsions and cohesive and agglomerated

materials such as clays.

• Powder it moisr, can cayse clogging of apertures.

Attrition between particles during the process may cause size reduction giving innacurate results.

Sedimentation (method 2)

• Sedimentation using the Andreasen pipet, a special cylindrical container from which a
sample can be removed from lower portion at selected intervals, the powder is dispersed
in a non-solvent in the pipette and agitated and samples are removed over time. By
sedimentation the terminal setting velocity of particles is measure by stocks law, and

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 particle diamteres can becalculated from the equation-

d= 18 hη/ (ρi- ρe) gt

Where,

d is the diameter of the particles,

h is the height of the liquid above the sampling tube orifice,

Η is the viscosity of the suspending liquid,

ρi- ρe is the density difference between the suspending liquid and the particles, (Andreasen
pipette)

g is the gravitational constant,and

t is the time in seconds .

Advantages

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 The technique has high resolution and excellent reproducibility. It became the method of
choice for many applications, particularly in geology and oceanography explorations.

Disadvantage

The method cannot be used for emulsions (the material does not settle), very dense materials
that settle quickly, or mixtures of differing densities.

Laser Diffraction method (Method 3)

In this method, a laser beam passes through particles while light intensity data are collected at
different scattering angles by a fixed number of detectors. Mie theory can be used for smaller
particles but requires a priori knowledge of the refractive indices.

Advantages

Diffract meters can measure dry powders, liquid suspensions, emulsions, sprays, and aerosols.
Data collection is very fast

Disadvantages

Assumptions of Fraunhofer approximation are often violated and this can lead to huge errors.

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Powder properties

• 1. Porosity:

• Porosity is the ratio of volume of the pores (empty spaces) in the powder to the bulk
volume.

• The space between particles in a powder are called voids. The volume occupied by such
voids is called void volume (v).

• The total volume occupied is called bulk volume(vb)

;. Void volume (v) = Vb- Vp [ Vp= volume of particles]

:. porosity = (Vb-Vp)/Vb =1- Vp/Vb × 100 [ porosity is frequently expressed in percent]

Density

• True Density

• Volume occupied by voids (inter-particle spaces) and intraparticle pores are not included
in this measurement.

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 • Calculated by suspending drug in solvents of various densities & in which the compound
is insoluble.

After vigourous agitation, samples are centrifuged briefly, and then left to stand undisturbed
briefly, and then left to stand undisturbed till floating has reached equilibirium. The sample that
remains suspended corresponds to the true density of the material.

2.Bulkiness

The reciprocal of bulk density is known as the bulkiness or specific bulk volume.

• It increases with a decreases in particle size

• It may get reduced since the smaller particles may shift between the larger ones.

3. Flow property

• It may be free flowing or cohesive (skicky) or may have poor flow.

While manufacturing powders, may have some problems in powder flow-

1. Cohesiveness between particles due to van der Waals and electrostatic forces.

2. Friction between particles with dies well causing lubrication problems and there is a risk
of dust contamination.

3. Many manufacturing problems are attributed to powder flow including (segregation) in

blending, under over dosage, inaccurate filling.

4. Uneven powder flow due to excess entrapped air within powder.

Test to evaluate flowability of powders

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 • 1. Carr's compressibility index: Carr developed a test using a jolting volumeter. It is
consist of a measuring cylinder, which is jolted up and down, simulating tapping. To
measure the volume of a given weight of a bulk powder before tapping to obtain the fluff
density and again after vertically jolting the cylinder to give the tapped density.

carrs index (%) = Tapped density- bulk density X 100/ Tapped density.

Relationship between flowabilty and % compressibility:

Carr’s compressibility index (%) Description of flow

<10 Excellent
11-15 good
16-20 fair
21-25 passable
26-31 poor
32-39 Very poor
>40 Very very poor

2. Hausner ratio:

Hausner ratio= Tapped density/ poured or bulk denisty.

Interparticle friction was related to hausner ratio.

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  Value less than 1.25 indicates good flow (=20% carr) have ow interparticle friction.

 Value greater than 1.5 indicates poor dlow (=33% Carr) more cohesive, less free-flowing.

Glident normally added between 1.25 and 1.5 to improve flow.

3. Angle of repose

The maximum angle possible the surface of a pile of powder and horizontal plane= coefficient
of friction between the particles:

Tan Q= h/r, r = d/2

Powder is poured onto a horizontal surface and the angle of the resulting pyramid is measured.

Angle of repose Description of flow

<25 Excellent
25-30 Very good
31-35 Good
36-40 fair
41-45 Passable flow might be

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References

• Ansel's pharmaceutical dosage forms and drug delivery systems book and Aulton's
pharmaceutics book.

• https://www.americanlaboratory.com.

• https://basicmedicalkey.com

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