Welcome to the autumn update which brings news of three very different series for you
to engage with. Industrial Applications of Powder Rheology Part 5, the last in our series
of joint webinars with longstanding customer Evonik runs this month, while our next appearance
in the current Micromeritics webinar programme will be in October.
On the article front we’ve recently collated all our contributions to TCT, the leading 3D printing/AM magazine,
so if that’s your area of application these are worth a look.

Elsewhere check out the fascinating research on floating tablets and ‘meet’ Laura Shaw,
one of our Applications Specialists.
We conclude with our regular round up of upcoming events which are starting to return to normal.
We look forward to renewing acquaintances face-to-face in the near future.

Perfecting personal care products

On Tuesday 14 Sept, Christina Sotelo, Scientist, Personal Care and Cosmetics at Evonik
joins Jamie Clayton to discuss her work on the use of silica to develop more sustainable
compacts and powder formulations. Register now to join this last session of the series and
access preceding webinars here.
Evonik is one of the world’s leading speciality companies and we’d like to thank the company’s
experts for sharing their excellent insights over the last few months.

Click here to register

A wealth of webinar content

The Micromeritics webinar programme continues at pace with several sessions every month.
These talks provide a regular opportunity to learn more about the application of critical characterisation
techniques such as gas adsorption, porosimetry, and density measurement.
Look out for our Application Specialist Rajeev Dattani who is scheduled
to present Measurement and Quantification of Caking in Powders on 20 October.

Application spotlight: Additive Manufacturing/3D printing

AM/3D Printing has advanced rapidly in the last couple of decades but
there are still challenges to be tackled.
Over several years, we’ve been writing regularly in TCT about how customers use
the FT4 Powder Rheometer to understand powder behaviour in AM applications and
resolve printing challenges.
Follow the link to find out how the FT4 can help define robust specifications for
AM powders, developing new materials for printing, assessing the impact of recycling
and ensure optimal printing performance.

Click here to view

Formulating floating tablets

When it comes to delivering drugs with low solubility and/or low permeability
a gastroretentive tablet, one that remains in the stomach for a prolonged, can be the answer.
However, formulating such tablets can be a real challenge so we were interested to read research
from the School of Pharmacy, Sungkyunkwan University showing how powder flow measurements,
and porosity characterisation, as provided by our Micromeritics colleagues, could help. 

Read ‘Analytical Techniques for the Formulation of Gastroretentive Tablets’ to find out more.

Meet the team: Laura Shaw

Next up in our series introducing you to members of the team is Laura Shaw,
who joined as a Laboratory Technician in 2016 and became an Applications Specialist in 2018.
A chemist by background, Laura specialised in Organic Synthetic Chemistry and enjoys crocheting
and long-distance running (not at the same time though!).
Here are her answers to our three important questions:

• Best thing about working at FT?
   Helping customers get to the bottom of what may be causing their powder handling
  problems and sharing in their joy when they realise they have the tools to begin to tackle these issues.

• Most interesting thing you’ve worked on?
  Collaborations and customer support give us insight into such a variety of powder
  handling operations across very different sectors. It’s intriguing to see how powder properties
  that are deemed as detrimental for some operations, are the target for others!

• One thing you wish more people understood about powders?
  They can be incredibly sensitive to a wide range of variables, leading to so many different processing issues.
  But that doesn’t mean that their flow is beyond understanding, its simply necessary to account for this while analysing
  them and use a multi-variate h.

Upcoming events

Over the coming months we will be participating in:

The ASTM International Conference on Additive Manufacturing (ASTM ICAM) 2021 which runs
from 1-5 November in Anaheim, California as well as virtually.
Join Rajeev Dattani for a presentation on ‘Circular Feedstocks: Polyamide Powder Rejuvenation for 3D Printing’
(Timings TBC).

The AIChE Annual Meeting which takes place from 7-11 November in Boston
(followed by a virtual event at a later date.) We’ll be covering two topics:
‘Using Powder Rheometry to Identify and Quantify Different Humidity Induced Caking Behaviours’
and ‘Scroll Compaction: A Novel Approach for Uniform Compaction of Powder Beds’.
Join Jamie Clayton virtually on 18 November from 08:00 EST in the Particle Technology Forum session.