CHARACTERIZATION OF THE COMPRESSION PROPERTIES OF COMPACTED CHITOSAN AS A FUNCTION OF MOLECULAR WEIGHT

where C is the degree of volume reduction of the powder column under the applied pressure, P, and a and b are constants. The reciprocal of b is defined as the pressure needed to reduce the powder bed volume by 50%. Heckel yield pressure, and Kawakita constant b, are used to understand compaction behaviour. Heckel and Kawakita plots were prepared using both the in-die, and the out of die, methods. The in-die method generates data under load, whereas the out-of-die method allows the tablet to elastically recover.