A two-piece capsule shell designed to receive a formulation; gelatin and HPMC are common shell materials.
Also called: hard capsule; two-piece capsule; gelatin capsule.
Does hard-shell capsule mean gelatin capsule?
Hard shell identifies the two-piece cap-and-body construction. Gelatin is one shell material; HPMC is another. Treating gelatin capsule as a perfect synonym can hide a material choice that matters to purchasing and trials.
For a line specification, record the shell construction, supplier grade and size separately. A switch of polymer should not disappear inside an unchanged “hard capsule” description. It also does not establish that every capsule with the same nominal size has identical dimensional or closing behavior.
No. Hard-capsule applications can include powders, pellets, minitablets, liquids and combinations when the shell and dosing system are suitable. The two-piece construction does not make every liquid compatible with every shell.
Specify the fill type, dosing system, shell-compatibility evidence and downstream closure. Liquid-filled hard capsules retain a two-piece shell structure; soft capsules have a different construction and should not be combined into the same equipment requirement.
The empty hard shell already has a cap and body, normally held in a preliminary joining state for handling. Separation and final closure are distinct from metering the contents. Empty-shell manufacture and formulation filling are also different processes.