The process of transforming the powder into a pill requires a whole lot of pharmaceutical machinery like – Granulation machine, mixing machine, drying machine, tablet press, encapsulating machine, punches and dies, packaging machine and other related auxiliary machines.
Tablet punches and dies are also known as tablet tools or punch and die tooling, or compression tools. It is essential to have superior quality tablet tools for excellent performance, high productivity, and long tooling life. A tablet tool determines the uniformity of size, shape, imprint and weight of the tablets.
The die and punches are fit on the tablet press machine – single punch tablet press machine or rotary press machine. To make a tablet from powder, the granulated material is metered into a cavity formed by two punches (lower punch and upper punch) and a die. Then the punches are pressed together with a force to compress the material together in the middle die from opposite directions. With external pressure of the up punch and the down punch, the materials in the middle die will be compressed tightly.
By the combined pressing action of two punches and a die, a tablet takes its physical form or shape.
Step #1 of typical operation
The bottom punch is lowered in the die creating a cavity into which the granulated feedstock is fed.
Step #2 of typical operation
The exact depth of the lower punch can be precisely controlled to meter the amount of powder that fills the cavity.
Step #3 of typical operation
The excess is scraped from the top of the die, and the lower punch is drawn down and temporarily covered to prevent spillage.
Step #4 of typical operation
The upper punch is brought down into contact with the powder as the cover is removed.
Step #5 of typical operation
The force of compression is delivered by high-pressure compression rolls, which fuse the granulated material together into a hard tablet.
Step #6 of typical operation
After compression, the lower punch is raised to eject the tablet.
Tablet tools come in different shapes and sizes – standard as well as customized – depending on the industry and requirement of the client, which includes – pharmaceutical, confectionery, and veterinary.