Pharmaceutical industry characteristics rheology

Another very common industrial mixing process involving immiscible liquids is emulsification. This is frequently encountered in the food and pharmaceutical industries when very small liquid droplets are created in a second liquid phase. In these cases the resulting mixture is often stable and will separate only after long periods of time. Furthermore, the stable onul-sion will usually be relatively viscous and will often exhibit non-Newtonian rheological characteristics. The dynamics of emulsification is also treated in Chapter 14. 

Rheology is the study of flow and deformation of materials under the influence of external forces. It involves the viscosity characteristics of powders, liquids, and semisolids. Rheological studies are also important in the industrial manufacture and applications of plastic materials, lubricating materials, coatings, inks, adhesives, and food products. Flow properties of pharmaceutical disperse systems can be of particular importance, especially for topical products. Such systems often exhibit rather complex rheological properties, and pharmaceutical scientists have conducted fundamental investigations in this area [58-64],... 

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