Fatigue testing of condoms

Tests currently used for condoms are surrogates for the challenges they face in use. The tests involve looking for holes and slow stretching to break. This article describes a test that adds cyclic strain to a level well below breakage, and examines the differences among brands and types of condom. It is shown that there are very significant differences in resistance to cyclic straining. Such a test could be developed into a standard test for condom acceptability.