Newsletter - September 2021
In this issue
Welcome to the autumn update which brings news of three very different series for you to engage with. Industrial Applications of Powder Rheology Part 5, the last in our series of joint webinars with longstanding customer Evonik runs this month, while our next appearance in the current Micromeritics webinar programme will be in October. On the article front we’ve recently collated all our contributions to TCT, the leading 3D printing/AM magazine, so if that’s your area of application these are worth a look.
Elsewhere check out the fascinating research on floating tablets and ‘meet’ Laura Shaw, one of our Applications Specialists. We conclude with our regular round up of upcoming events which are starting to return to normal. We look forward to renewing acquaintances face-to-face in the near future.
On Tuesday 14th Sept, Christina Sotelo, Scientist, Personal Care and Cosmetics at Evonik joins Jamie Clayton to discuss her work on the use of silica to develop more sustainable compacts and powder formulations. Register now to join this last session of the series and access preceding webinars here. Evonik is one of the world’s leading speciality companies and we’d like to thank the company’s experts for sharing their excellent insights over the last few months.
Click here to register
AM/3D Printing has advanced rapidly in the last couple of decades but there are still challenges to be tackled. Over several years, we’ve been writing regularly in TCT about how customers use the FT4 Powder Rheometer to understand powder behaviour in AM applications and resolve printing challenges. Follow the link to find out how the FT4 can help define robust specifications for AM powders, developing new materials for printing, assessing the impact of recycling and ensure optimal printing performance.
Click here to view
When it comes to delivering drugs with low solubility and/or low permeability a gastroretentive tablet, one that remains in the stomach for a prolonged, can be the answer. However, formulating such tablets can be a real challenge so we were interested to read research from the School of Pharmacy, Sungkyunkwan University showing how powder flow measurements, and porosity characterisation, as provided by our Micromeritics colleagues, could help.
Read ‘Analytical Techniques for the Formulation of Gastroretentive Tablets’ to find out more.
Next up in our series introducing you to members of the team is Laura Shaw, who joined as a Laboratory Technician in 2016 and became an Applications Specialist in 2018. A chemist by background, Laura specialised in Organic Synthetic Chemistry and enjoys crocheting and long-distance running (not at the same time though!). Here are her answers to our three important questions:
- Best thing about working at FT? Helping customers get to the bottom of what may be causing their powder handling problems and sharing in their joy when they realise they have the tools to begin to tackle these issues.
- Most interesting thing you’ve worked on? Collaborations and customer support give us insight into such a variety of powder handling operations across very different sectors. It’s intriguing to see how powder properties that are deemed as detrimental for some operations, are the target for others!
- One thing you wish more people understood about powders? They can be incredibly sensitive to a wide range of variables, leading to so many different processing issues. But that doesn’t mean that their flow is beyond understanding, its simply necessary to account for this while analysing them and use a multi-variate approach.
Over the coming months we’ll be participating in:
ICAM 2021
AIChE 2021
The AIChE Annual Meeting which takes place from 7-11 November in Boston (followed by a virtual event at a later date.) We’ll be covering two topics: ‘Using Powder Rheometry to Identify and Quantify Different Humidity Induced Caking Behaviours’ and ‘Scroll Compaction: A Novel Approach for Uniform Compaction of Powder Beds’. Join Jamie Clayton virtually on 18th November from 08:00 EST in the Particle Technology Forum session.