Selected Pharmaceutical Application Studies
TTC PHARMACEUTICAL APPLICATION STUDIES  (Follow this link to request pharmaceutical application studies)
  • Adhesive Bandages
  • Puncture & Rupture Force of Liquid Soft Gel Caps
  • Distingtegration of Tablets
  • Cracking Point of Small Pellets
  • Pellet Hardness
  • Tablet First Crack vs Total Failure
  • How to Measure the Adhesiveness of BioAdhesives
  • Tablet Hardness
  • Adhesivesness of Coating to Tablet
  • Stickiness of Creams & Ointments
  • Cracking Tablets
  • Suppositories
  • Film Resistance & Burst Strength
  • Silicon Gels
  • Cohesion of Lotions, Pastes & Gels
  • Blister Packs
  • Transdermal Adhesives
  • Rubber Cement
  • Three Point Bend Test of Fast Acting Glues & Rubber Cement
  • Sealants & Caulkings
  • Peel tests
  • Loop Tack test
  • Round vs Flat Probe for Tack Testing
  • Measurement of Seal Strength of Ribbed Heat Sealed Foil Packaging (an SMS application study).
  • Wet Tack of Adhesive Glues
  • Pressure Sensitive Adhesives - Tack Test on Office, Masking & Packaging Tapes
  • Pressure Sensitive Adhesives - 180o and 90o Peel Test on Masking Tapes
  • Adhesive Age Article "Avery Adhesive Test Yields More Performance Data Than Traditional Probe" by Ken Chuang
  • Adhesive & Sealant Article "Ways to Differentiate Tackiness of Pressure Sensitive Tapes" by Marc Johnson
SMS PHARMACEUTICAL APPLICATION STUDIES 

    Compressed Face Powders
    SHAD1/P2 Comparison of hardness or 'cake strength' of two eyeshadows

    Deodorant
    DEO1/P2 Comparison of hardness of two different formulations of deodorants by penetration with a 2mm cylinder probe

    Gel Capsules
    GCP1/P2 Comparison of rupture force and elasticity of four gel capsule types by penetration with a 2mm cylinder probe

    Hair Gel
    GEL5/BEC Comparison of consistencies of two types of hair gel by back extrusion

    Hypodermic Needles
    NEED1/TG Comparison of sharpness of hypodermic needles by penetration through a rubber stopper

    Lipstick
    LIP1/P2N Comparison of hardness of two different lipstick batches by penetration with a 2mm needle probe - according to ASTM Standard method D 1321-95

    LIP2/LC Comparison of bending force of lipsticks at 2 storage temperatures using a Cantilever Test

    LIP3/P2N Comparison of hardness of two different lipstick batches by penetration with a 2mm needle probe- an adaptation of ASTM Standard method D 1321-95

    Medical Adhesive Tape
    MAT1/P025 Comparison of adhesiveness of medical adhesive tapes by testing with a ball probe through a multi-hole indexing system

    Moisturising Cream
    CRM1/BEC Comparison of consistencies of three moisturising creams by back extrusion

    Petroleum Jelly
    PET1/SR Spreadability/Softness of petroleum jelly stored at 5°C and 25°C

    Shampoo
    SHA1/BEC Comparison of consistencies of two shampoos by back extrusion

    Soap
    SOA1/P2 Comparison of hardness of two different types of soap bars by penetration with a 2mm probe

    Tablets
    TAB1/P25 Failure behaviour of tablets due to diametral compression using a cylinder probe
    TAB2/TCA Measurement of tablet coating adhesion force

    Tablet Granules
    GRN1/P25 Compressibility of tablet granules using a cylinder probe

    Toothpaste
    TPT1/TER Comparison of toothpaste firmness / 'force to extrude' of two toothpaste formulations

    Transdermal Delivery Systems
    PCH/P025 An investigation into the adhesiveness of transdermal delivery patches by probing with a ball probe through a holed plate

    Wax
    WAX1/45C Comparison of hardness of two wax types by penetration with a cone probe - according to ASTM Standard method D937-92
    WAX2/P1S Comparison of stickiness properties of two types of soft moulding hair wax using a 1" ball probe
    WAX3/P1S Measurement of the stickiness properties of hair removal wax with a spherical probe
TA.XT2 Texture Analyzer Study: Cracking point of a small pellet Study # I-81

A pharmaceutical manufacturer was making a series of small pellets with a diameter of 0.2 mm with a very powerful active ingredient encapsulated within the shell.  It was also making pellets of different outside hardnesses and it was necessary for them to measure the point at which the pellet cracked, not crushed as is the results with a traditional pill hardness tester.

A TA.XT2 with a 25 kg capacity and 1 g sensitivity was used for the test.  A stainless steel cylinder probe with a bottom surface area of 1 square cm was used (TA-19 Kobe Probe) and the probe advanced onto the a single pellet at a time at a speed of 0.5 mm/sec for a distance of 50% of the detected pellet height.  The force/time chart is shown below:

Small Pellet being Cracked with Kobe Probe
 Force to crack pellet             932.2 g 

Distance at first crack          0.070 mm 

Gradient from A to A1        5,593 g/s 

Area under curve to A1     71.93 g s
Graph & Data For Cracking a 2 mm Pellet
Application Study Conclusions The TA.XT2 can measure the texture of  very small samples and can precisely determine where events take place in increments of 2.5 microns.