I Holland Offers an Answer to Tablet Tooling Degradation With a Combination of Solutions

Wear and deterioration of tooling is unavoidable in tablet manufacture, but it can be reduced significantly by using the correct tooling materials and coatings. Leading global tablet tooling manufacturer, I Holland, has researched the science behind this complex issue and offers a number of solutions to extend the life of punches and dies.

I Holland’s R&D Manager, Rob Blanchard said: “"Deterioration of tablet tooling is inevitable and is a problem that leads to other tablet-making problems, including adherence of the granules because of the pitted and worn surfaces of the punches and also capping or lamination of the tablets. I Holland has studied these issues and have a comprehensive offering of materials and coating solutions to eliminate this common problem.”

“High quality tooling should be able to offer a long life and be anti-abrasive and wear resistant. To achieve this there are several options. We have introduced PharmaGrade, a range of raw materials, that have been developed and tested to ensure today’s tooling requirements are encompassed. The PharmaGrade range incorporates several wear-resistant materials including HPG-P (Holland PharmaGrade Premium), a high quality ESR grade punch and die material, HPG-MP and HPG-MD (Holland PharmaGrade Powder Metallurgy Punches/Dies), specialised powder metallurgy grade steels with uniform carbide distribution and small carbide size offering extremely high wear resistance; and  HPG-TC, a sintered micro grained tungsten carbide cemented with cobalt, which has extremely high wear resistance and is great for preventing die bore ringing. Blanchard comments; “Tungsten carbide is often used for the dies to prevent wear and deformation of the die bores. It features a high compressive strength with an extremely high wear resistance. This helps to reduce die bore wear and ringing and lasts longer than conventional die steels.

“The other important consideration is to use enhanced coatings and treatments. The I Holland PharmaCote range includes several coating options to increase tooling life. PharmaCote RS, is just one of the products that has been specifically developed to combat abrasion This is an extremely hard coating at 3000Hv, almost three times as hard as Hard Chromium. It offers excellent wear resistance. One customer reported increasing tablet output by 900% from one set of tools due to the application of this coating.”

Tablet tooling has to combine complex design and functional requirements to ensure productivity and durability are at their maximum in manufacture. To follow this important process, the introduction of products including PharmaGrade and PharmaCote, offers a solution to tablet punch and die wear.