Study of the Distribution of Magnesium Stearate with an Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence Analyser Annamária Szalaya, Klára Pintye-Hódia, Katalin Joób, and István Erosa
Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, University of Szegeda, Szeged (Hungary), and Testor GmbHb, Budapest (Hungary)
The formulation of tablets requires various auxiliaries. One group of these ingredients is the lubricants, which prevent tablets from sticking to the die and punches and minimize their wear. In the pharmaceutical industry, one of the wellknown and probably the most widely used lubricants is magnesium stearate. Its use is considered essential, as magnesium stearate forms a film of low shear strength between the die wall and the compact and reduces friction; it has few properties which negatively influence the overall.
The aim of this work was to study whether particle size of sorbitol has any effect on the distribution of magnesium stearate in a tablet during compression. The distribution of magnesium stearate on the surface of the particles was measured with an energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence analyser.
Key words Magnesium stearate • Sorbitol, particle fractions, tabletting • Tabletting lubricants, magnesium distribution • X-ray fluorescence analysis
