Non-destructive determination of anisotropic mechanical properties of pharmaceutical solid dosage forms

The mechanical property anisotropy of compacts made from four commercially available pharmaceutical excipient powders (microcrystalline cellulose, lactose monohydrate, ascorbic acid, and aspartame) was evaluated. The speed of pressure (longitudinal) waves in the uni-axially compressed cubic compacts of each excipient in the three principle directions was determined using a contact ultrasonic method. Average Young's moduli of each compact in the axial (x) and radial (y and z) directions were characterized. The contact ultrasonic measurements revealed that average Young's modulus values vary with different testing orientations which indicate Young's modulus anisotropy in the compacts. The extent of Young's modulus anisotropy was quantified by using a dimensionless ratio and was found to be significantly different for each material (microcrystalline cellulose > lactose > aspartame > ascorbic acid). It is also observed that using the presented contact method, compacts at high solid fraction (0.857–0.859) could be differentiated than those at the solid fraction of 0.85 in their groups. The presented contact ultrasonic method is an attractive tool since it has the advantages of being sensitive to solid fraction ratio, non-destructive, requiring small amount of material and rapid. It is noteworthy that, since the approach provides insight into the performance of common pharmaceutical materials and fosters increased process knowledge, it can be applied to broaden the understanding of the effect of the mechanical properties on the performance (e.g., disintegration profiles) of solid oral dosage forms.