Flow and Functional Characterization of Cornstarch Powder in the Presence of Water and Pregelatinized Starch.

A model system comprising cornstarch has been agglomerated in the presence of
binders like water and pregelatinized starch (PGS).Moisture and PGS contents have
been varied between 12.3 and 20.1% and 0 and 6%, respectively. The physical characteristics
of powder that have been determined include loose bulk density, wetting
time and sinking time.A powder flowanalyzer has been employed to determine flow
characteristics like maximumforce and energy for compression and decompression.
An increase in moisture content and/or PGS increases average particle size and loose
bulk density of agglomerates. The wet agglomerates show improved wetting and
sinking times compared to dried agglomerates. Like wetting time, sinking time also
decreases with an increase in moisture content meaning that these two indices
behave in a similar manner. The functional properties like wetting and sinking times
of powders at 18.5% moisturemade with PGS are instant and only take less than 5 s.