Choosing the Right Powder Flow Tester

There are a lot of techniques in the market for Powder Flow testing and lots of powder Flow tester available in the Industry. This makes it difficult to choose the best option among all the options for a company. Different aspects of the machine are considered before making a purchase. This article will guide you towards choosing the best powder flow tester available for your company. More than one feature is required to be discussed as the all powders display different Powder Properties and hence different Powder Flow Testers are needed. The guidelines are: - Practicality: The powder flow tester should be bought only when the company is able to see its practical use in the company. The sensitivity and relevance aspect does not hold much importance then. The tester should only be purchased when the price suits the company along with the output it will give. A cost benefit analysis should be carried out. - Properties: The powder flow properties also define the type of tester to be purchased. Powders are assemblies of bulk particles constituting air, water and gas. The interaction of these particles gives rise to accumulation, baking, compression, electrostatic charging and fluidizing. Different powder particles display different characteristics. This requires different methods to work in understanding and testing it. - Repeatability: A same person is required to perform work on the same tester with powders. This method tries to calculate the variance involved in performing the task. The operator will remain the same. - Reproducibility: Here the operators are different, the methods are different and the samples taken are also different. Here it is done to see the variability in working by the operators. - Sensitivity: This is a sort of technique which calculates variation. The technique is inherent in the property of repeatability and reproducibility. Having discovered the factors of measurements which should be considered before making purchase of the tester comes the evaluation part. - Angle of repose: One of the oldest techniques available to the pharmacists, they measure the slope or the powder flowing angle at which the powder flows and forms the pyramid. The horizontal and vertical aspects are measured. Approximately an angle of 25-30 degree shows best powder flow and an angle above 66 degree shows poor flow. Orifice Flow: Even more logical approach than the angle of repose, where the continuous flowing rate is measured. The testing can be manual or an automated one. Likewise, there are a number of other techniques available to calculate the powder flow. But what is important is taking into account the points given above which will help in choosing a tester which will serve the specific needs of the company. The decision has to be company centric and no general powder flow tester can be the choice of a company. It’s the type of powder which determines the type of tester to be used.