THE EFFECTS OF DIKA FAT (A NEW TABLET LUBRICANT) ON THE PLASTO-ELASTICITY OF SOME PHARMACEUTICAL POWDERS

Measurements have been made of the effects produced on the "plastoelasticity" ratio, ER/SR, tensile strength and disintegration of Sta-Rx, Emcompress and lactose as a result of adding increasing amounts of dika fat and stearic acid respectively to the powders and compressing to form tablets. Increase in their proportions caused an increase in the ER/SR ratio but decreased the tensile strength and disintegration rate of the resulting tablets. The powders containing dika fat exhibited marginally higher ER/SR ratio values but its tablets had lower tensile strengths and shorter disintegration times than tablets containing stearic acid. The tensile strength of the tablets was found to be inversely proportional to ER/SR.