The development, processing and advanced characterization of new functional and high-performance elastomers are the core of our research.The focus is on the integration of additional functionalities and expansion of the range of applications, with sustainable material concepts being elaborated by using biogenic resources or alternative crosslinking mechanisms.

The elucidation of the interaction between property-determining structure parameters and technological process conditions allows for adapted compounding and processing of functional elastomers.

The coupling of structure-sensitive methods with mechanical characterization expands the understanding of material-inherent mechanisms due to deformation, damage and failure as well as their correlation to the macroscopic (fracture) mechanical material behavior.