Influence of scale-up on the abrasion of tablets in a pan coater

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of batch size during scale-up on the abrasion and edge splitting of flat faced lactose tablets. The weight loss of white tracer tablets in a batch of blue coated tablets was investigated in a laboratory scale pan coater and a pilot scale pan coater as a function of different pan speeds and mixing times. It was observed that increasing batch size resulted in a decreased weight loss due to less edge damaging. The higher number of tablet impacts at the pan wall in the laboratory scale compared to the pilot scale might be the reason for this phenomenon. The common assertion that an increase in batch size in scale-up leads to a higher abrasion or tablet damaging was not supported in the current study.