Tablet Press

Here’s an animated diagram of how a tablet press works, taken from Wikipedia. It was seeing this animation recently that got me thinking “This would be a great way to make standardized cermet pellets for engine testing”.

Part of the challenge we had in the past with making pellets was keeping a consistent amount of cermet and a consistent amount of pressure with the hand press we had. Using something that’s designed to do both of those things would allow us to produce a reasonably large number of identical pellets in a short time.

There are several challenges still to be addressed, such as:

– is the cermet too “sticky” to feed properly?
– what is the best amount of pressure to compress the tablets?
– what shape is the best to use?
– what is the best size to make the pellets?
– can we borrow a machine or lease time on one?

Finding the answers to these (and likely other) questions will help us move forward in preparing for standardized testing capabilities.