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Tablet hardness testing
View on WikipediaTablet hardness testing is a laboratory technique used by the pharmaceutical industry to determine the breaking point and structural integrity of a tablet and find out how it changes "under conditions of storage, transportation, packaging and handling before usage"[1] The breaking point of a tablet is based on its shape.[2] It is similar to friability testing,[1] but they are not the same thing.
Tablet hardness testers first appeared in the 1930s.[3] In the 1950s, the Strong-Cobb tester was introduced. It was patented by Robert Albrecht on July 21, 1953.[4] and used an air pump. The tablet breaking force was based on arbitrary units referred to as Strong-Cobbs.[3] The new one gave readings that were inconsistent to those given by the older testers.[3] Later, electro-mechanical testing machines were introduced. They often include mechanisms like motor drives, and the ability to send measurements to a computer or printer.[3]
There are 2 main processes to test tablet hardness: compression testing and 3 point bend testing. For compression testing, the analyst generally aligns the tablet in a repeatable way,[2] and the tablet is squeezed between a fixed and a moving jaw. The first machines continually applied force with a spring and screw thread until the tablet started to break.[3] When the tablet fractured, the hardness was read with a sliding scale.[3]
List of common hardness testers
[edit]There are several devices used to perform this task:
- The Monsanto tester was developed 50 years ago. The design consists of "a barrel containing a compressible spring held between 2 plungers". The tablet is placed on the lower plunger, and the upper plunger is lowered onto it.[1][5]
- The Strong-Cobb tester forces an anvil against a stationary platform. Results are viewed from a hydraulic gauge.[5] The results are very similar to that of the Monsanto tester.[6]
- The Pfizer tester compresses tablet between a holding anvil and a piston connected to a force-reading gauge when its plier-like handles are gripped.[5]
- The Erweka tester tests a tablet placed on the lower anvil and a weight moving along a rail transmits pressure slowly to the tablet.[5]
- The Dr.Schleuniger Pharmatron tester operates in a horizontal position. An electric motor drives an anvil to compress a tablet at a constant rate. The tablet is pushed against a stationary anvil until it fractures. A reading is taken from a scale indicator.[5]
- Kraemer Elektronik's tablet testing system was the first automatic tablet hardness testing system for auto-regulation at tablet presses, invented by German mechanical engineer Mr. Norbert Kraemer in Darmstadt, Germany. The tablets are separated by a patented feeder chute and moved on a horizontal starwheel through different testing stations. The Kraemer Elektronik automatic tablet testing system measures weight, thickness, diameter/length, width and hardness of tablets and capsules.[7]
Units of measurement
[edit]According to the International System of Units, the units of measurement of tablet hardness mostly follow standards used in materials testing.
- Kilogram (kg) – The kilogram is recognized by the SI system as the primary unit of mass.
- Newton (N) – The Newton is the SI unit of force; the standard for tablet hardness testing. 9.807 Newtons = 1 kilogram (at one G, earth surface gravity).
- Pound (lb) – Technically a unit of force but can also be used for mass under earth gravity. Sometimes used for tablet strength testing in North America, but it is not an SI unit. 1 kilogram = 2.204 pounds.
- Kilopond (kp) – Not to be confused with a pound. A unit of force also called a kilogram of force. Still used today in some applications, but not recognized by the SI system. 1 kilopond = 1 kgf.
- Strong-Cobb (SC) – An ad hoc unit of force which is a legacy of one of the first tablet hardness testing machines.[4] Although the SC is arbitrary, it was recognized as the international standard from the 1950s to the 1980s. 1 Strong-Cobb represented roughly 0.7 kilogram of force or about 7 newtons.[8] Although the Strong-Cobb unit is arbitrarily based on the dial reading of the Strong Cobb hardness tester, it became an international standard for tablet hardness in the 1950s until it was superseded by testers using SI units in the 1980s.[6] The Strong-Cobb is a unit with a very unusual name for a unit of measurement since it is named after the company, Strong-Cobb Inc. The inventor of the hardness tester was Robert Albrecht,[4] the plant engineer for the Strong-Cobb Company. He sold the patent to the company for $1.00.
Sources
[edit]- ^ a b c Joseph Price Remington (2006). Remington: The Science And Practice Of Pharmacy. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. ISBN 0781746736.
- ^ a b "Tablet hardness testing". Sotax. Archived from the original on 5 January 2013. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f "Some Information on Tablet Hardness Testing". Engineering Systems. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
- ^ a b c US 2645936, Robert, Albrecht, "Tablet hardness testing machine", published 1953-07-21, assigned to Strong Cobb & Company Inc.
- ^ a b c d e "Quality control of solid dosage form". Scribd. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
- ^ a b McCallum, A.; Buchter, J.; Albrecht, R. (1955). "Comparison and correlation of the Strong Cobb and the Monsanto tablet hardness testers". Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association. 44 (2): 83–85. doi:10.1002/jps.3030440208. PMID 14353719.
- ^ Charles, Ischi AG (2017). "Automated tablet & capsule testing technology". Scribd.
- ^ Russ Rowlett (September 1, 2004). "How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement". University of North Carolina. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
Further reading
[edit]- J. E. Rees & P. J. Rue (1978). "Work Required to Cause Failure of Tablets in Diametral Compression". Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy. 4 (2): 131–156. doi:10.3109/03639047809055644. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
- American Society for the Testing of Materials (ASTM), Designation: E4–07, 'Standard Practices for Force Verification of Testing Machines'.
Tablet hardness testing
View on GrokipediaOverview
Definition
Tablet hardness testing is a critical quality control measure in pharmaceutical manufacturing that evaluates the mechanical strength of compressed tablets by determining the force required to cause diametric fracture under compression.[5] This process applies a gradually increasing load perpendicular to the tablet's flat faces until breakage occurs, quantifying the tablet's resistance to crushing and thereby assessing its structural integrity.[6] The concept of tablet hardness testing originated in the 1930s, with the first dedicated apparatus patented by Smith and Grosch in 1934 to address the need for standardized mechanical strength evaluation in early pharmaceutical production.[2] By the mid-1930s, mechanical testers were introduced specifically for this purpose, enabling manufacturers to verify that tablets could endure the rigors of packaging, shipping, and handling without fracturing prematurely.[7] While tablet hardness focuses on compressive fracture resistance, it is distinct from friability testing, which measures a tablet's susceptibility to abrasion and edge chipping during mechanical agitation, and from disintegration testing, which assesses the time required for a tablet to break apart into particles upon exposure to aqueous media.[8][9] These parameters collectively inform tablet formulation to balance durability with bioavailability, ensuring effective drug delivery.[10]Importance
Tablet hardness testing plays a crucial role in pharmaceutical manufacturing by ensuring the mechanical integrity of tablets, thereby preventing breakage during shipping, storage, and dispensing. Insufficient hardness can lead to tablet friability, resulting in fragmentation or powdering that compromises dosing accuracy and patient safety. For instance, broken tablets may deliver inconsistent active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) amounts, potentially causing under- or overdosing with serious therapeutic consequences.[4][11][12] Optimal tablet hardness, measured as the diametrical fracture force required to break the tablet, is essential for maintaining bioavailability. Excessively hard tablets may resist disintegration in the gastrointestinal tract, delaying drug release and reducing absorption efficiency, while overly soft tablets disintegrate too rapidly, potentially leading to suboptimal therapeutic effects. This balance ensures timely API dissolution and enhances overall drug efficacy, as supported by studies showing that higher hardness correlates with slower drug release profiles.[13] Economically, rigorous hardness testing minimizes waste from defective batches by enabling early detection of formulation issues, thus optimizing production yields and reducing material losses. Regulatory compliance, as outlined in FDA guidelines and USP <1217> standards, mandates hardness specifications for batch release, helping manufacturers avoid costly recalls and enforcement actions—such as warning letters issued for hardness non-conformance—that can exceed millions in remediation expenses. By tying hardness to quality assurance, this testing supports sustainable manufacturing practices and safeguards public health.[14][15]Principles
Physical Basis
Tablet hardness testing is fundamentally based on the principles of diametrical compression, a method that applies a controlled compressive force to a tablet to induce tensile failure. The tablet is positioned between two parallel, rigid platens, with the force directed perpendicular to the tablet's flat faces along its diameter. As the load increases, the resulting stress distribution within the tablet generates a maximum tensile stress at the center of the loaded diameter, promoting crack initiation and transverse fracture across the midplane. This failure mode allows the breaking load—the force at fracture—to serve as a proxy for the tablet's mechanical integrity, as higher loads indicate greater resistance to deformation and breakage.[16] The underlying material science of tablet hardness centers on the tensile strength, which quantifies the interparticle bonding established during compaction. These bonds form through intimate particle contacts created by deformation under high pressure, where the bonding efficacy depends on the balance between bonding area (the total interfacial contact) and bonding strength (the intermolecular forces at those interfaces). Particle behavior during compression varies: plastic deformation enables permanent reshaping and enlargement of contact areas, fostering robust van der Waals, hydrogen, or electrostatic bonds; in contrast, brittle fracture shatters particles into fragments, potentially increasing the number of contact points but often yielding weaker tablets if subsequent plastic flow is limited, as fragmentation alone does not guarantee sufficient cohesion. To relate the observed breaking load to intrinsic material properties, tensile strength is calculated via the approximation where is the diametral breaking load (in newtons), is the tablet diameter (in meters), and is the thickness (in meters). This equation derives from Hertz's 19th-century theory of elasticity for a thin cylindrical disk under uniform diametral compression, assuming linear elastic, isotropic behavior up to failure. The derivation involves solving the biharmonic stress function for plane stress conditions, yielding a tensile stress at the disk center (along the loading axis), which is three times the magnitude of the adjacent compressive stress but opposite in sign; failure is presumed to occur when this central tensile stress exceeds the material's tensile limit, with the factor of 2 arising from the nonuniform stress concentration relative to the average load over the cross-section. While this model idealizes tablets as brittle solids, real compacts exhibit viscoelastic effects that may introduce shear contributions to fracture.[16]Units of Measurement
Tablet hardness is commonly measured using the kilopond (kp), newton (N), or Strong-Cobb unit (SCU).[17][11] The newton serves as the SI unit of force and is the preferred standard in modern pharmacopeial testing.[17][7] Historically, the kilopond and Strong-Cobb unit predominated before the 1980s, with the Strong-Cobb unit emerging as a global standard in the 1950s for hydraulic testers.[7][18] A transition to the newton occurred in the 1980s and beyond, driven by international standardization in pharmacopeias like the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) and European Pharmacopoeia (EP) to align with SI units.[17][7] Conversions between units are essential for interpreting historical data or equipment outputs, with 1 kp approximately equal to 9.81 N and 1 SCU approximately equal to 7.00 N.[11] For example, a tablet with a hardness of 5 kp equates to roughly 49 N. The following table provides key equivalents for reference:| From Unit | To Newtons (N) | To Kiloponds (kp) | To Strong-Cobb Units (SCU) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 kp | 9.81 | 1 | 1.40 |
| 1 SCU | 7.00 | 0.71 | 1 |
| 1 N | 1 | 0.10 | 0.14 |
