Functional encapsulation of small particles. Quantification and control of the morphology of the coating layers

PhD ceremony: mw. F.L. Laksmana, 16.15 uur, Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, Groningen

Dissertation: Functional encapsulation of small particles. Quantification and control of the morphology of the coating layers

Promotor(s): prof.dr.ir. K. van der Voort Maarschalk

Faculteit: Wiskunde en Natuurwetenschappen

Contact: Fesia Laksmana, tel. 0251-49 1740, fesia-lestari.laksmana@corusgroup.com

Functional encapsulation of, for example, pharmaceutical products demands high coating quality, implying tight control of the coating formulation and coating process. Up to now, this has been often provided via a lengthy testing and experimental program. In her thesis Fesia Laksmana proposes a way to systematically select the best coating formulation and coating process settings to achieve the desired coating quality. She concluded that proper quantification of the coating morphology allows the impact of different coating material properties and process conditions on the coating quality to not only be better understood but also to be straightforwardly controlled. While many other works focused solely on the polymer, the work of Laksmana demonstrated that process settings are not the least important factors in influencing the quality of the coating derived.

Her work could be more interesting for development scientists in different fields that apply functional encapsulation. This implies various industries, such as pharmaceutical, food, agricultural (fertilizers), detergent, printing, paint, catalyst, aroma/essence industries, etc, that can benefit many additional values in their products by encapsulating their products for a controlled time frame. A part of this research, i.e. the quantitative image analysis methodology could also be interesting for scientists in e.g. membrane and packaging technologies, which deal with polymer structure to assure their product’s performance.