Modern manufacturing needs stiff rubbers that can resist deformation for components like shock absorbers and drive belts.
Read the paper here: Multiscale stress deconcentration amplifies fatigue resistance of rubber
But the stiffer rubber becomes, the more likely it is to crack under stress, which is a tough problem for researchers; the point at which cracks begin to propagate under repeated stress, known as the fatigue threshold, has stayed the same for decades.
But now a team of researchers have created a new type of rubber with a fatigue threshold 10 times higher than before, by entangling polymers in the rubber’s structure.