The department “Elastomer Physics” was established in 1988 by Dr. Thomas Alshuth and is actually managed by Dr. Jens Meier. The research priorities have been continuously adapted to current state of technology and the needs of industry. Currently, working priorities are crack propagation and fatigue mechanics, fatigue and life time prediction of components as well as contact mechanics and friction. In the near future, processing simulations will be added. The necessary experimental methods for the characterization of materials, such as dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), in the high frequency range (ultrasound) too, or microscopic and tomography methods are partly own developments and complement very well state of the art standard procedures. One of the key strengths of this department is to developed test methods, matching the specific needs of our customers, since quite often, standards are not yet specified or are not appropriate. Another focus is the development and production of anisotropic elastomers, especially magnetorheological adaptive elastomers and their characterization.