A sufficient mechanical stability of tablets to be compacted prevents problems during tableting (e.g. sticking, capping,
lamination) and is crucial with regard to further processing steps such as coating or packaging. Often, an improvement of
the mechanical stability is only achievable by an adaption of the production settings (die disk speed) or an alteration of
the powder blend composition. In the present study, a novel lower punch vibration device was developed and implemented
on a rotary tablet press to improve the mechanical stability of the resulting tablets without changing the production
conditions or the powder formulation. Various types of microcrystalline cellulose with different physical properties were
selected. The powders were investigated concerning their powder flow, density, particle morphology and surface area and
the tablets concerning their weight, tensile strength, and capping index. The results showed that externally applied lower
punch vibration improved the mechanical stability of the investigated tablets beyond the adaption of the production
settingss and the physical properties of the powder blend
