Study of the fatigue behavior of a synthetic rubber undergoing cumulative damage tests

•Fatigue tests alternating damaging and non-damaging force controlled loading are presented.•The fatigue life is 5 to 8.4 times higher than during a constant amplitude fatigue test.•For each loading, a different behavior between the first and the following blocks has been observed.•The evolution of the deformation and the hysteresis area during the blocks is investigated.•The global reinforcement seems to be linked to the strain induced crystallization.