Interphex 2011 will be held at New York’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on 29-31 March 2011. More than 650 suppliers and 1,000 product lines will fill the show floor’s four exhibit zones. In addition, there will be more than 30 technical sessions, roundtables, live in-depth interviews, a new meeting service, and a series of special events.
Micromeritics, located in booth 1230, will not only display a variety of its own products, but also material characterization instrumentation represented by its Particulate Systems brand. With the addition of this brand, Micromeritics currently offers one of broadest ranges of particle characterization instruments and services on the market.
Micromeritics and Particulate Systems offer a number of instruments that each utilize a different method to determine particle size distribution of pharmaceutical powders, including one for characterizing particle shape. Methods include static laser light scattering, dynamic laser light scattering, electrical sensing zone, and dynamic image analysis.
Utilizing a state-of-the-art CCD detector containing over three million detector elements, Mie theory, and unique design and data reduction features, the Saturn DigiSizer® II high-definition digital particle size analyzer measures particle size in a range of 40nm to 2.5mm. It provides an extremely high level of resolution and sensitivity not available in other laser particle sizing systems. The Elzone® II 5390 particle size analyzer determines the size, number, concentration, and mass of a wide variety of organic and inorganic materials. Unlike other measurement techniques, the electrical sensing zone method (Coulter Principle) is capable of accurately sizing samples of varying optical properties, densities, colors, and shapes. The Elzone determines particle size in a range suitable for a wide variety of industrial and biological specimens down to 0.4µm.
Particulate Systems’ Particle Insight dynamic image analyzer is ideal for applications where the shape, not just the diameter, of raw materials is critical to the performance of the final product. The Particle Insight offers up to 28 different shape parameters analyzed in real-time in either aqueous or organic solvent suspensions. The system measures particles in a range from 3µm up to 300µm in its standard configuration. With its temperature stabilization feature, the Cordouan VASCO DLS particle size analyzers are unique dynamic light scattering (DLS) nanosizing instruments capable of measuring particle size in a range from 6µm to 1nm. Its optical configuration design provides superior detection efficiency for opaque sample, decreases the instrument sensitivity to ‘multiple scattering artifact’, and strongly reduces the laser thermal effect allowing very accurate measurements even in concentrated and dark dispersions.
Surface area and porosity are important physical properties that influence the quality and utility of many pharmaceutical materials and products. From increasing the speed and efficiency of a routine quality control analysis to providing the accuracy, resolution, and data reduction for exacting research requirements, Micromeritics offers an instrument to fit the application. The TriStar® II 3020 Surface Area and Porosity System is a fully automated, three-station instrument capable of increasing the speed and efficiency of quality control analyses, with the accuracy, resolution, and data reduction to meet most research requirements. The instrument includes a dedicated saturation pressure port and three analysis ports that operate simultaneously and independently of one another. A krypton option allows measurements in the very low surface area range.
Gas pycnometry is a common analytical technique that uses a gas displacement method to measure volume accurately. These volume measurements can be used to calculate absolute density which is an important physical characteristic to many pharmaceutical applications. Micromertics AccuPyc® II 1340 gas displacement pycnometry system is a fast, fully automatic analysis system that provides high-speed, high-precision volume measurements and density calculations. The AccuPyc determines absolute density of powders, solids, and slurries having volumes from 0.01cm³ to 350cm³ with superior accuracy.
For those who require high throughput, an integrated control and analysis module can run up to five additional external analysis modules. Each module can have a different size sample chamber (1cm³, 10cm³, 100cm³, 350cm³) providing even more versatility. In addition, obtaining skeletal volume measurements using the AccuPyc combined with envelope volume from Micromeritics’ GeoPyc® 1360 allows the user an alternative low-cost method to quickly determine total pore volume and percent porosity in a dry environment. This information has proven to be useful in controlling the mechanical properties of pharmaceutical material, compression force settings on the roller compactor, and subsequent tablet press settings.