A NEW FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING PROCESS FOR TAILORING RELEASE RATES IN CONTROLLED RELEASE PACKAGING AND DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEMS

摘要

Smart blenders controllably form multi-component polymer melts into a wide variety of fine-scale structural arrangements. The machines operate on the principal of chaotic advection, a recent subfield of fluid mechanics. Because structure of a composite material influences greatly additive diffusion and matrix dissolution, this processing method may be useful for designing medications, transdermal patches, implants, and sutures in medical applications. It may also provide desired release rates of active compounds such as antioxidants and antimicrobial from packaging films to enhance the quality and safety of food. In this paper, an ability to alter release rates of tocopherol, a natural antioxidant, is demonstrated via on-line specification of a process parameter governing blend morphology in extruded films.