Peroxide cured metallocene catalyzed polyethylene (mPE) has been prepared to form an elastomer. mPEs with two different levels of comonorrver contents have been cured with various amounts of dicumyl peroxide. "Threshold" fracture energy is roughly proportional to the reciprocal square root Of Young's modulus. The values of tear strength are generally two orders of magnitude larger than the results from cutting measurements. The cutting strength of mPE vulcanizates gives an intermediate value compared with crystalline plastics and conventional elastomers and is comparable with other evaluations of cutting strength for different crosslinking types of rnPE and different types of materials, wl-dch further signifies the importance of crystalline yielding even in the nanofracture zone of deformation. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Iric. J Appl Polym Sci 113: 3791-3798, 2009