The following article has been authored by John Heaney.
Calendared and sintered Stainless Steel (SS) mesh baskets are the norm for dissolution testing with good reason. This mesh provides several benefits to the basket that not just improves it but makes it usable in a lab in the first place.
Calendared mesh is made by taking the SS wire mesh and passing the mesh between two rollers held at a specific distance from each other. The rollers press the high spots of the mesh, where the wires overlap, into the same height as the rest of the mesh. This results in the mesh becoming more rigid so the openings do not change size. Additionally, it makes the mesh stiffer, more robust and easier to handle in a typical lab environment.
Sintering is a bit like welding but in a less drastic form. Rather than heating the mesh until the point it melts or otherwise deforms, it is brought very close to that point so just the joints where the wires overlap melt together. This maintains the size of the openings and greatly increases the strength of the mesh as the wires are now held at rigid distances. This enhances the strength and rigidity of the mesh beyond calendaring as the wires are now merged with each other rather than just pressed together with a friction fit.
The benefits to dissolution baskets are obvious for a calendared and sintered mesh. They make the basket stronger and easier to handle. They keep the hole size rigid, creating uniformity from basket to basket, and test to test. And in the end, they make the test results far more consistent. This is why every dissolution basket you use should be made of calendared and sintered mesh.