ABSTRACT
Modern medicine and pharmaceutics have far surpassed the days of tonics and teas,
plasters, and compresses. Since the advent of the tablet, the solid dosage form has
remained the most popular drug delivery system, comprising over 80% of all ethical and
generic preparations produced today. As it is rare for pre-blended and sized material to be
available in the ideal form for tableting, the introduction of solid dose forms placed a
demand upon industry for the design and development of new size reduction technology.
This in turn motivated the research into the science of size reduction and powder
behavior. Progress has been made towards understanding fracture mechanics, static
energy, and agglomeration of particles. There are still areas of size reduction that are not
fully understood due to the dynamic nature of crystals and powder blends.