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Development of hot-melt extrusion as a novel technique for the ...

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sustained rele<strong>as</strong>e polymer b<strong>as</strong>ed pellets <strong>of</strong> various freely soluble drugs [11] . HME involves <strong>the</strong>compaction and conversion <strong>of</strong> blends from a powder or a granular mix into a product <strong>of</strong> uni<strong>for</strong>mshape [9] . During this process, polymers are <strong>melt</strong>ed and <strong>for</strong>med into products <strong>of</strong> different shapesand sizes such <strong>as</strong> pl<strong>as</strong>tic bags, sheets, and pipes by <strong>for</strong>cing polymeric components and activesubstances including any additives or pl<strong>as</strong>ticisers through an orifice or die under controlledtemperature, pressure, feeding rate and screw speed [9, 12] . However, <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>oretical approach tounderstanding <strong>the</strong> <strong>melt</strong> <strong>extrusion</strong> process can be summarized by cl<strong>as</strong>sifying <strong>the</strong> whole procedure<strong>of</strong> HME compaction into <strong>the</strong> following [13] :1) feeding <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> extruder through a hopper,2) mixing, grinding, reducing <strong>the</strong> particle size, venting and kneading,3) flow through <strong>the</strong> die, and4) <strong>extrusion</strong> from <strong>the</strong> die and fur<strong>the</strong>r down-stream processing (Fig. 1.1).Fig. 1.1: Schematic diagram <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> HME process [12] .The extruder generally consists <strong>of</strong> one or two rotating screws (ei<strong>the</strong>r co-rotating orcounter rotating) inside a stationary cylindrical barrel. The barrel is <strong>of</strong>ten manufactured insections in order to shorten <strong>the</strong> residence time <strong>of</strong> molten materials. The sectioned parts <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>barrel are <strong>the</strong>n bolted or clamped toge<strong>the</strong>r. An end-plate die is connected to <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> barrelwhich is determined according to <strong>the</strong> shape <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> extruded materials.2 | P a g e

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