ABSTRACT

We are interested in studying the behavior of mixtures of common pharmaceutical excipients such as microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), lactose and starch. We consider mixtures of two and three excipients, and study their packing structure and material response to the applied strain. We focus our studies on two mixtures, both with a total of 1800 particles: sample S1 is a mixture of equal parts of 200 µm diameter MCC and lactose spheres, and sample S2 is a mixture of equal parts of 200 µm diameter MCC, lactose and starch spheres. To understand the behavior of the mixtures of different materials, we have chosen to work with equal concentrations of monodisperse spheres, thereby excluding additional complications which might arise

from differing concentrations, or size dispersity of the individual components.