Defense Date

6-29-2020

Graduation Date

Fall 12-20-2020

Availability

Immediate Access

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD

Department

Pharmaceutics

School

School of Pharmacy

Committee Chair

Carl A. Anderson

Committee Member

James K. Drennen, III

Committee Member

Peter L. D. Wildfong

Committee Member

Ira S. Buckner

Committee Member

Eiji Kato

Abstract

The mechanical strength of pharmaceutical compacts is often considered as a critical quality attribute for roller and tablet compaction processes. Most traditional mechanical strength tests are destructive, thus, preventing further material testing. This thesis expands on the application of terahertz time of flight spectroscopy (THz-TOF) as a nondestructive technique for assessing mechanical strength. This technique is able to extract the refractive index; which is a function of porosity and crystallinity of the solid. Thus, it was hypothesized that refractive index measurements from terahertz time of flight spectroscopy are directly related to porosity; therefore, these nondestructive measurements are able to correlate to the mechanical strength of pharmaceutical compacts. This hypothesis was achieved by generating refractive index based models for predicting various types of destructive mechanical strength measurements including radial tensile strength, indentation hardness, and axial tensile strength for pharmaceutically relevant tablet systems. This work provides further support for THz-TOF as a potential process analytical technology tool for roller compaction and/or tablet compaction processes.

Language

English

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