Assessment of Thermal Transitions by Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) Using a Novel Disposable Powder Holder

Foods and pharmaceuticals materials are exposed to various environmental conditions during processing and while in storage; therefore, stability and quality are key attributes of concern. The properties of foods and pharmaceutical materials that define their quality are affected by conditions such as temperature, humidity and time. Glass transition is considered a key material property to understand how these external conditions affect the stability and quality of foods and pharmaceuticals. Thus, investigating the thermo-mechanical properties of these materials as well as characterizing the glass transition temperature have a great interest not only in the food industry, but also extend to the pharmaceutical and polymer industries. The aim of this study was to design and test a new disposable powder holder that allows the use of a dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) instrument to test and characterize loose powder samples. The disposable aluminum powder holder was designed and constructed to be used in the single cantilever configuration on a TA Instruments RSA III DMA. Three different powder samples - Felodipine, polyethylene-oxide (MW 900 kDa) and HPMC (E4M) - were used for validation. The use of this powder holder allows the detection of different thermal changes of powder samples without compacting and when large sample size is necessary for detection and/or interpretation.