Vincent Mazel, I2M,
Université de Bordeaux 

Capping and lamination are classical defects that can occur during the manufacturing of pharmaceutical tablets. Both correspond to a failure of the final tablet in a plan normal to the compaction direction. Nevertheless, they correspond to different kind of defects and even the term lamination covers in fact different kinds of defects. All these defects correspond to different failure patterns and to different failure mechanisms. As such, they are differently impacted by the product and process parameters.  

In this presentation we will discuss a classification of the different defects and show the different mechanisms. The effect of classical solution like pre-compression, tapered die or press slowing down will be studied for each defects. We will also try to show how the powder/tablet mechanical behavior impacts the different defects. Finally, we will try to understand which parameters can be useful in order to anticipate the occurrence of capping/lamination at the manufacturing scale. 

After studies in fundamental physics, Vincent Mazel prepared a phD in Material Science in the University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris). After 8 years as an assistant professor at the university Paris-Sud, he moved to the University of Bordeaux, where he is now full professor. He’s part of the institute of mechanical Engineering at the University of Bordeaux where his teaching activities are focused on pharmaceutical processes for the production of solid dosage forms. His research is focused on the application of the tools of mechanics (experimental and numerical) for the understanding of the phenomena occurring during pharmaceutical compression. He’s especially interested in the problems of tablet fracture like capping or lamination.