Studies of powder flow using a recording powder flowmeter and measurement of the dynamic angle of repose.

This paper describes the utility of the dynamic measurement of the angle of repose for pharmaceutical systems, using a variable rotating cylinder to quantify powder flow. The dynamic angle of repose of sodium chloride powder sieve fractions was evaluated using a variable rotating cylinder. The relationship between the static and the dynamic angle of repose is discussed. The dynamic angle of repose of six lots of a multivitamin preparation were compared for inter- and intralot variation. In both cases, no significant differences (p greater than 0.05) were observed. In the multivitamin formulation, lubricants at lower concentration levels did not show a significant effect (p greater than 0.05) on the dynamic angle of repose when compared with flow rates. The effect of different hopper sizes and geometry has been evaluated using the recording powder flowmeter. The results indicate that although different hoppers affect the quantitative nature of the results, the same general trends are apparent. Thus, it appears possible to use a recording powder flowmeter with small quantities of material to predict the effect of formulation and processing variables on the flow of production scale quantities. This paper does not describe a comprehensive evaluation of the pharmaceutical utility of measuring the dynamic angle of repose. However, the results discussed are not encouraging and suggest that the recording powder flowmeter is more sensitive to the effects of formulation and production variables on powder flow.