Tableting machines find extensive demand in the pharmaceutical industries due to a large preference by the patients to consume the medication in the form of tablets. As a result, the companies must be well equipped with machinery in order to cater to this demand for tablets or capsules of different size & shape. Punches and dies are the tools for tableting machines that are used in tablet production. Before manufacturing any tablet of a particular size and shape, its die is created. A punch, on the other hand, is used for creating impressions on the tablet surface.
Tablet Punches & Dies Characteristics
A tablet punch is located in the turret section of the rotary tablet press machine. Tablet press has two punches, upper punch, and lower punch. The dies are sealed from the bottom by lower punch. This assures that a precise amount of powder enters and fills the die with the help of proper adjustment. Additionally, they also help in the compression and ejection process. Upper punch, on another hand, ensures that a requisite amount of compression force is exerted on the powder. Thus, a tablet is formed of the desired shape & size. The choice of material for the punches in a tablet press machine is very critical since they are subjected to:
- Strong compressive forces that has the tendency to damage the tool
- Abrasive and corrosive environment tend to have a deteriorative effect on the tool that has an adverse effect on its efficiency
Hence, the material must be chosen by taking into consideration the aforementioned factors so that there is no hindrance in the machine operation. The tablet punches & dies must be treated in order to make sure that the tooling meets the required compression standards. It is also required for any punch die system to be durable so that it can guarantee in the error-free operation of tableting machine resulting in high productivity.
Material Selection for Punch & Die System of Tablet Press
The foremost requirement of the material for punch and die is that it must adhere to the cGMP standards. This allows the high performance of the machine as the tools generated are highly durable. The type of material to be compressed into powder should also be taken into consideration. For compressing abrasive materials, it is required to use a special tool as compared to the tools preferred for soft and non-abrasive materials. Mostly, stainless steel is considered felicitous to be used for producing punches and dies due to their high wear resistance. Other most common materials for the application are High carbon steel, Tungsten carbide, and High chrome steel. A good tool exhibits high wear resistance and compressive strength. Die wear is one common phenomenon noticed across industries. It results in various issues like tablet capping, delamination, and tablet ejection force. All of these phenomena have a tendency to adversely affect the performance of the tablet press machine. Hence, the material selected must hold the capacity to eliminate all these problems.
The Bottom-Line: Fluidpack is known for providing a wide array of high-quality tablet press machines and tools. Our advanced manufacturing facilities produce fine machinery of the highest quality that are devoid of any operational issues. Tablet punches and dies supplied by Fluidpack are manufactured using high-grade materials. They are available in different shapes and size for producing tablets of varying dimension and shape.
