At first glance it appears to be a cross between a designer stool and something like an off-road tire for a Formula 1 race car. Black, round, solid and weighing at least 24 kilograms. “And this is actually one of the smaller ones,” says Rodrigo Henriquez, a rubber expert at LANXESS, the Leverkusen-based synthetic rubber pioneer. “Others of its kind can weigh up to several hundred kilograms.” We take a closer look at the item on its white pillar in Building K10 at Chempark Leverkusen. Knock on it. Run our hands over it. Smell it. Now we’re sure: The odd Formula 1 stool that the rubber experts are showing to their guests feels like rubber, sounds like rubber, and smells like rubber.

But what is it? “A blowout preventer,” says Henriquez. “A sort of plug used to secure bore holes when drilling for oil.” And rubber? Well, that’s technically true but the term doesn’t really do the material justice. “You couldn’t make a part like this from conventional rubber. It wouldn’t last long. This thing is made of a high-tech material we call Therban,” says Henriquez. “Therban has about as much in common with the rubber that most of us are familiar with as steel does with flint.”