Compression behavior of spray dried rice starch

Abstract

Compression behaviors of spray dried rice starch (SDRS), as well as pregelatinized starch (PS), and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) were characterized using Heckel analysis. SDRS was found to undergo plastic deformation with lower elasticity compared with PS. SDRS showed very low fragmentation tendency due to the fact that the difference between extrapolated and actual densification of its Heckel plot was low. Having aggregate sphere in shape, its densification could be initiated by deaggregation and tight packing without requiring high pressure. The above evidence explains why the compactibility of SDRS is excellent. MCC on the other hand, showed some fragmentation before undergoing plastic deformation. The fragmentation might have increased the contacts among particles which resulted in higher crushing strength of the tablets compared with that of SDRS. The slope of the Heckel plot of a mixture of each excipient and hydrochlorothiazide fairly agreed with the summation of the weight fraction of each component. The deformation of the mixture tested could be easily predicted. Since SDRS possesses both good compactibility and flowability, this new direct compression excipient has a high potential for successful tablet formulation.