Predicting the tabletability of binary powder mixtures from that of individual components

Predicting the tabletability, i.e., the relationship between tensile strength and compaction pressure, of powder mixtures based on that of pure materials would streamline tablet formulation development, saving both time and materials. This would be a significant step toward achieving digital tablet formulation design. The recently derived Vreeman-Sun tabletability equation enables the mathematical description of tabletability data using three parameters: ${\sigma }_{max}$, $\alpha$, and $\beta$. Therefore, tabletability prediction is achieved by predicting these three tabletability parameters. In this work, we developed a strategy to predict mixture tabletability parameters based on those of the individual components, employing an appropriate mixing rule. Using materials with diverse mechanical properties, we demonstrate that the power-law mixing rule overall outperforms both the linear and harmonic mixing rules in predicting mixture tabletability parameters, leading to excellent agreement with experimental tabletability profiles.