TROUBLESHOOTING

CRITICAL COMPONENTS OF FILM COATING

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Troubleshooting
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Coating Process and Equipment
TROUBLESHOOTING
SCENARIOS

• Early stage R&D

• Scale up

• Production
EXAMPLE OF TABLET
TWINNING
TWINNING
Cause
• Spray droplet size too
large
• Spray rate too high
• Pan speed too low
• Insufficient drying
• Inappropriate tablet shape
Solution
• Reduce spray rate
• Increase atomizing & fan
air
• Increase pan speed
• Chose new tablet design
that eliminates flat / dead
areas
TABLET BREAKAGE
 TABLET BREAKAGE
Cause Solution
Pan speed too fast
• Decrease pan speed
Tablets are too soft (high
friability) • High initial spray rate to
Tablets are too brittle “seal” cores
Tablets are over compressed
• Change baffles to less intense
Inappropriately placed or
designed logo. type
High sensitivity of the core to • Eliminate overcompression
moisture during the coating
process.
on subsequent runs
Spray Application Rate is too low.
 TABLET SURFACE EROSION

Uniform erosion over the tablet surface Erosion on the crown of the tablet (core
( general core formulation problem) formulation problem, may be resolved by
changing punch curvature
TABLET SURFACE EROSION

Cause
• Application rate too low
• Pan speed too fast
• Friable tablet core
• Low coating suspension solids
level
• Low coating film strength
• Punch design
• Punch wear
• High sensitivity to moisture
• Inappropriately placed or
designed logo
Solution
• Decrease pan speed
• Increase spray rate
• Use tablet punches with
deeper concave or
double radius shape
• Check punches for
damage
 EDGE EROSION / EDGEWEAR

The edge of the tablet tends to make more vigorous contact with pan walls, baffles, and
other tablets
EDGE CHIPPING / EDGEWEAR
Cause
• Worn tablet punches
• Sharp edges on tablets
• Low spray application rates
• Solids content of the coating
solution is too low
• Excessive pan speed used
during the coating process
• Low mechanical strength of
the coating
• Coating pan is not filled to
capacity
Solution
Decrease pan speed
Change baffles
Increase spray rate
Increase solids content
Use tablet punches with
deeper concave or double
radius shape
Check punches for damage
Replace tooling
RELEASE ISSUES
RELEASE ISSUES
Cause Solution
• Interaction between the Apply barrier coat
core and the coating
ingredients Use alternative coating
• Coating formulation formula
contains ingredients that Use coating at low
hinder the solubility of the temperatures
coating
• Core ingredients are
sensitive to heat or
moisture in the coating
process
POOR COLOR UNIFORMITY
 POOR COLOR UNIFORMITY
Cause Solution
• Increase quantity of film coat
• Inadequate quantity of film
applied
coat applied
• Increase opacity of suspension
• Inadequate mixing of tablets
• Increase pan speed
• Poor opacity of suspension
• Alter baffles
• Insufficient number of spray
• Increase number of spray guns
guns
• Load the correct quantity of
tablets
“BLEED THROUGH” OR “SPOTTY”
COLOR CHARACTERISTICS

It happens with multivitamin formulations and some of the “exotic” ingredients

that are often contained in those types of formulation.
 “BLEED THROUGH” OR “SPOTTY”
COLOR CHARACTERISTICS
Cause
• Pigments are poorly Solution
dispersed In house coating conversion
• Core ingredients (usually Apply seal coat
moisture sensitive) “bleed” Change coating formulation
through the coating Coat organically
• Core ingredients interact
with coating to cause color
instability
 SPRAY DRYING

• Logo infilling, which is generally associated with “spray drying” of the coating suspension
• Applying a coating suspension with too much foam especially when the spray rate is defined in
terms of volume flow (ml min-1) instead of mass flow (g min-1),
SPRAY DRYING
Cause
• Application rate too low
• Drying air volume too high
• Drying air temperature too
high
• High atomization pressure
• Gun to bed distance
• Turbulence
• Suspension solids level too
high
Solution
• Increase spray rate
• Decrease the drying
temperature
• Decrease airflow
• Decrease atomizing air
• Decrease gun to bed
distance
LOGO BRIDGING
LOGO BRIDGING

Cause Solution
• Change coating formulation to high
• Poor adhesion adhesion
• Inappropriate design of • Increase spray rate

the logo. • Decrease the drying temperature

• Decrease atomizing air
• Surface characteristics of • Reduce suspension solids
the core itself. • Decrease spray rate

• High elastic modulus • Increase the drying temperature

• Increase atomizing air
• High viscosity • Increase suspension solids
CRACKING OF THE COATING
CRACKING OF THE COATING

Cause Solution
• Poor adhesion
• Select coating formula with
• Inadequate coating formulation
good adhesion properties
• Impact during mixing
•
• Improve tensile strength of
Extended strain relaxation of the
core after compaction. film
• different thermal expansion • Reduce pan speed
core/coating .
• Change baffles
• Low mechanical strength
• Excessive pigment • Allow tablet relaxation after
• Inadequate plasticization compaction
CORE EXPANSION
CORE EXPANSION

Cause Solution
• Core has different thermal • Avoid selection of mineral type
expansion properties than fillers, Calcium Carbonate,
coating
Calcium Sulfate, Magnesium
• Inadequate coating Carbonate, Encompress etc
formulation
• Extend time between tabletting
• Expansion of core due to
& coating
overheating
• Select coating formula with
• Lack of relaxation time
following tabletting good elastic properties
• Do not over heat tablet cores
SPLITTING AND PEELING OF THE
COATING
PEELING OF THE COATING
Cause
• Low mechanical strength of
coating
• Core tablet erosion
• Poor adhesion of coating
solution to tablet core
• Over heating of tablet cores
above 65ºC +
• High internal stress in the
coating
• Excessive pigment
• High amount of MgSt
Solution
• Select coating with improved
mechanical strength/adhesion
• Minimize erosion
• Do not over heat tablet cores
• Seal tablet cores with high
spray rate
• Select compatible surface /
polymer
• Reduce MgSt amount
OVER WETTING - PICKING AND
STICKING
OVER WETTING - PICKING
AND STICKING
Cause
• Application rate too high
• Drying air volume too low
• Drying air temperature too
low
• Pan speed too low
• Low atomization pressure
• Too concentrated spray area
• Surface porosity high
Solution
• Reduce spray rate
• Increase the drying temperature
• Increase airflow
• Increase atomizing air
• Increase pan speed
• Increase number of spray guns
used
• Increase gun to bed distance
“ORANGE PEEL” OR
ROUGHNESS EFFECTS
 “ORANGE PEEL” OR
ROUGHNESS EFFECTS
• Atomizing air pressure too • Reduce solids content of
low coating solution (viscosity)
• Coating suspension viscosity • Increase the atomizing /
too high fan air pressure
• Reduce the inlet air
• High spray rate (Over
temperature / flow fate
wetting)
• Decrease the spray rate
• Excessive drying
• Change spray gun