Many orally administrated drugs exhibit poor bioavailability due to their limited solubility. The smartFilm technology is an innovative approach to improve the drug aqueous solubility, where the drug is embedded within the matrix of cellulose-based paper in an amorphous state, hence increasing its solubility. Despite its proven effectiveness, smartFilms, i.e., pieces of paper, exhibit limited flowability and are not easy to swallow, and thus oral administration is not convenient. In addition, there is a lack of knowledge of their mechanical behavior under compression. This study aimed to transform unloaded smartFilms, i.e., paper, into a flowable physical form and investigated its mechanical behavior when compressed. Granules made of paper were prepared via wet granulation and were compressed into tablets. The influence of using different amounts and forms of sucrose, as a binder, on the pharmaceutical properties of the produced granules and tablets was studied and the most suitable composition was identified by using instrumented die experiments. For this, the Poisson’s ratio and Young’s modulus were determined for different compaction force levels and the deformation behavior was estimated with the Heckel mathematical model. All granule batches showed good flowability with angle of repose values between 25–35°. Granule batches with ≤30% dry sucrose content produced tablets that fulfilled the European Pharmacopeia requirements, and the compaction behavior of the granules was found to be comparable to the behavior of classical binders and compression enhancers. Paper can be transferred into granules. These granules can be used as suitable intermediate products for the production of tablets made of paper in large, industrial scale.

In accidents involving cars with pedestrians, the impact of the head on structural parts of the vehicle presents a significant risk of injury. If the head hits the windshield, the injury is highly influenced by glass fracture. In pedestrian protection tests, a head form impactor is shot on the windshield while the resultant acceleration at the centre of gravity of the head is measured. To assess the risk of fatal or serious injury, a head injury criterion (HIC) as an explicit function of the measured acceleration can be determined. The braking strength of glass, which has a major impact on the head acceleration, however, is not deterministic but depends on production-related microcracks on the glass surface as well as on the loading rate. The aim of the present paper is to show a pragmatic method for how to include the stochastic failure of glass in crash and impact simulations. The methodology includes a fracture mechanical model for the strain rate-dependent failure of glass, an experimental determination of the glass strength for the different areas of a windshield (surface, edge, and screen-printing area), a statistical evaluation of the experimental data, and a computation of an HIC probability distribution by stochastic simulation.