Motivation and research approach

The name-giving subject of the Chair is "Elastomeric Materials". The polymer material class of elastomers is essentially characterized by the fact that

• the development of the most important application-relevant material property, entropy elasticity, only occurs through the formation of a wide-meshed molecular network during the processing and primary molding process as a result of chemical reactions that lead to covalent bonds or strong physical interactions between the rubber macromolecules,
• the required portfolio of properties can usually only be achieved by combining polymers (rubbers) with functional non-polymer formulation components (e.g. hierarchically structured particulate reinforcing and functional fillers, nanoparticles, textile reinforcing fibers, etc. on a micro- and nanoscale - elastomers are therefore heterophasic polymer materials),
• the process-guided structure and morphology formation (e.g. dispersion and distribution of functional fillers, interfacial adhesion/interfacial layer formation between the blend or composite phases, cross-linking density) directly determines the application-relevant material properties as a result of elastomer-specific technological mixing and shaping processes .