Effect of Various Factors on the Corrosion and Rusting of Tooling Material Used for Tablet Manufacturing

Abstract

Various factors that cause the rusting of tablet punches and dies by a hydrochloride salt were evaluated. Tooling material rich in nickel content was found to have the best resistance to rusting by the hydrochloride salt. Other factors such as humidity, temperature and contact time with this hydrochloride salt were also found to be responsible for rusting of tooling material.

The hydrogen chloride liberated from the salt was found to be the cause of rusting of tooling. A correlation between the stability of hydrochloride salt as determined by thermogravimetric analysis and its effect on rusting of tooling material was demonstrated. Optimization of tooling composition during preformulation is recommended.