Gel Caps — Texture Application Note

Soft gels are widely used in medicines, vitamin and mineral supplements, fragrances and cosmetics. The active ingredients are packaged inside a capsule or microcapsule protecting it from its surrounding environment until an appropriate time when the ingredients escape from the capsule wall by rapture, dissolution, melting or diffusion. The rate at which theses processes occur largely depends on the strength of the capsule.

The strength of the capsule can be quantified using the CT3 Texture Analyser by a penetration test using a 2 mm cylinder probe to determine the film strength (rapture point) of soft gel capsules. This is a common method also used to measure points of weakness in a gelatine film or seal during manufacturing simulating circumstances whereby a capsule may burst during packaging and transport.