An adhesion model in Distinct Element Method (DEM) for mixing of food powders having different adhesive forces was developed. It is necessary to determine which adhesive force should be applied in the DEM simulation when the particles having high adhesive force and particles having low adhesive force during mixing come in contact with each other. The simulations of mixing behavior of particles having high, low and their average adhesive forces were performed to discuss the effects of adhesive forces on mixing behavior. While, in order to compare to the mixing behavior simulated, two types of mixing experiments of salt and potato starch, and wheat flour and potato starch which have different adhesive forces were carried out. As a result, it was found that when the particles having different adhesive forces contact, the mixing behavior and mixing index of the simulation using the values of high adhesive force would be in agreement with those of the experiment.

Recently, for the pharmacokinetic control of target materials, interest has been dedicated toward polymeric nanocarrier systems with surface modifications, since these systems enables efficient drug delivery that could not be achieved by conventional formulation strategies. In this review, our latest outcomes on preparation and biopharmaceutical evaluations of surface-modified polymeric nanocarriers for pharmacokinetic control, especially oral absorption behavior, are presented. For designing the functional nanocarriers like mucoadhesive/penetrative nanoparticles, Flash nanoprecipitation (FNP) approach, a technique for promoting the nucleation over growth of precipitated particles by controlling thermodynamic and kinetic conditions, was strategically applied with combination use of polystyrene (PS)-block-polyethylene glycol or PS-block-polyacrylic acid. As the results from physicochemical, pharmacokinetic, and pharmacodynamic evaluations, either functional nanocarriers could highlight desirable characteristics to control the oral absorption behavior of model drug, cyclosporine A, possibly contributing to enhancing the biopharmaceutical properties.

Flowability of powder and granular materials is an important property to design and control the manufacturing process. A simple and low-cost technique was developed to evaluate the flowability of wet powder and granulate materials. In the proposed technique, the flowability can be evaluated by the torque for stirring wet powder with a pitched-blade paddle. In order to confirm the performance of our technique, the torques to stir the wet beads with varying moisture contents were measured. The effects of additive liquid viscosity on the torque for stirring were investigated, and the correlation between the moisture content corresponding to maximum steady torque for stirring and the additive liquid viscosity was presented.

Mechanochemistry offers sustainable synthesis of the functionalized cellulose nanofiber (CNF). In this study, changes in the microstructure of the CNF aqueous sol by planetary ball milling were investigated in terms of its rheological behavior, crystallinity, and diameter distribution. The surface activity of the CNF was additionally characterized by a pulsed nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). A decreased thixotropy hysteresis loop observed in the 100 min⁻¹-treated CNFs indicated a weaker interaction among the fibers, but still having a three-dimensional structure. 300 min⁻¹ could collapse them. A decreased x-ray diffraction peak intensity observed in the 500-min⁻¹-treated CNF could indicate a split in the fiber’s bundle as well as shredding. An increase in the wet surface area (S_NMR) could indicate surface activity in the 500-min⁻¹ milled CNF sol. Such newly formed hydroxyl groups can serve as effective reaction sites with, for example, the TiO₂ precursor and perhaps favorably works to improve the photocatalytic performance.

Dynamic fields visualization method of carbon-black (CB) volume fraction Φ_CB distribution in Lithium-ion battery (LIB) cathode slurry has been proposed based on electrical resistance tomography (ERT) during the manufacturing process. The proposed method consists of an impedance analyzer, a switching circuit, and Φ_CB distribution imaging algorism, archiving to the measurement speed of 5 frames per second. In experiments, Φ_CB distribution was visualized by the proposed method in lab-scale LIB cathode manufacturing equipment. To qualitatively evaluate the Φ_CB distribution images, those images are compared with scanning electron microscope (SEM) images. This comparison shows that the Φ_CB distribution images are qualitatively consistent with SEM images. In addition, in order to quantitatively evaluate the proposed method, the accuracy of reconstructed Φ_CB distribution is evaluated by electromagnetic field simulations. As a result, the root mean square errors RMSE between the known Φ_CB distribution and that obtained by the proposed method was less than 0.56%.