In this paper Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer rubber (EPDM) foams were filled with different amounts of paraffin, a common phase change material (PCM) having a melting temperature at about 70 °C, to develop novel rubber foams with thermal energy storage (TES) capabilities. Samples were prepared by melt compounding and hot pressing, and the effects of three foaming methods were investigated. In particular, two series of samples were produced through conventional foaming techniques, involving physical (Micropearl® F82, MP, Lehvoss Italia s.r.l. Saronno, Italia) and chemical (Hostatron® P0168, H, Clariant GmbH, Ahrensburg, Germany) blowing agents, while the salt leaching method was adopted to produce another series of foams. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and density measurements showed that MP led to the formation of a closed-cell porosity, while a mixed closed-cell/open-cell morphology was detected for the H foamed samples. On the other hand, foams produced through salt leaching were mainly characterized by an open-cell porosity. The qualitative analysis of paraffin leakage revealed that at 90 °C only the foams produced through salt leaching suffered from significant PCM leakage. Consequently, the thermo-mechanical properties were investigated only in samples produced with H and MP. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) analysis revealed that EPDM/paraffin foams were endowed by good TES properties, especially at higher PCM contents (up to 145 J/g with a paraffin amount of 60 wt%). Tensile and compressive tests demonstrated the addition of the PCM increased the stiffness at 25 °C, while the opposite effect was observed above the melting temperature of paraffin. These results suggest that the EPDM foams produced with H and MP show an interesting potential for thermal management of electronic devices.

Recently, drug personalization has received noticeable attention. Problems arising from standard generalized drug treatments have aroused over the years, particularly among pediatric and geriatric patients. The growing awareness of the limitations of the "one-size-fits-all" approach has progressively led to a rethinking of the current medicine's development, laying the basis of personalized medicine. Three-dimensional printing is a promising tool for realizing personalized therapeutic solutions fitting specific patient needs. This technology offers the possibility to manufacture drug delivery devices with tailored doses, sizes, and release characteristics. Among additive manufacturing techniques, fused deposition modeling (FDM) is the most studied for oral drug delivery device production due to its high precision and cheapness. By playing with factors such as drug loading method, filament production, and printing parameters, the medication release profile of a drug delivery device produced by 3D printing can be tailored depending on the patient's requirements. This review focuses on the applications of FDM in drug fabrication using poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) as drug-loaded matrices.The authors aim to provide an overview of the current trends in this research field, with special attention to the effect of the printing parameters, tablet shape, and drug distribution and concentration on drug customization and personalized drug release.

Biodegradable polymers have recently become popular; in particular, blends of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(butylene adipate terephthalate) (PBAT) have recently attracted significant attention due to their potential application in the packaging field. However, there is little information about the thermomechanical properties of these blends and especially the effect induced by the addition of PBAT on the shape memory properties of PLA. This work, therefore, aims at producing and investigating the microstructural, thermomechanical and shape memory properties of PLA/PBAT blends prepared by melt compounding. More specifically, PLA and PBAT were melt-blended in a wide range of relative concentrations (from 85/15 to 25/75 wt%). A microstructural investigation was carried out, evidencing the immiscibility and the low interfacial adhesion between the PLA and PBAT phases. The immiscibility was also confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). A thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed that the addition of PBAT slightly improved the thermal stability of PLA. The stiffness and strength of the blends decreased with the PBAT amount, while the elongation at break remained comparable to that of neat PLA up to a PBAT content of 45 wt%, while a significant increment in ductility was observed only for higher PBAT concentrations. The shape memory performance of PLA was impaired by the addition of PBAT, probably due to the low interfacial adhesion observed in the blends. These results constitute a basis for future research on these innovative biodegradable polymer blends, and their physical properties might be further enhanced by adding suitable compatibilizers.