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The toughness of a polymer material can increase significantly if twonetworks are combined into one material. This toughening effect is aconsequence of a transition from a brittle to a ductile failure response.Although this transition and the accompanying toughening effect have beendemonstrated in hydrogels first, the concept has been proven effective inelastomers and in macroscopic composites as well. This suggests that thetransition is not caused by a specific molecular architecture, but rather by ageneral physical principle related to the mechanical interplay between twointerpenetrating networks. Here we employ theory and computer simulations,inspired by this general principle, to investigate how disorder controls thebrittle-to-ductile transition both at the macroscopic and the microscopiclevel. A random spring network model featuring two different spring types,enables us to study the joined effect of initial disorder and network-inducedstress heterogeneity on this transition. We reveal that a mechanical forcebalance gives a good description of the brittle-to-ductile transition. Inaddition, the inclusion of disorder in the spring model predicts four differentfailure regimes along the brittle-to-ductile response in agreement withexperimental findings. Finally, we show that the network structure can resultin stress concentration, diffuse damage and loss of percolation depending onthe failure regime. This work thus provides a framework for the design andoptimization of double network materials and underlines the importance ofnetwork structure in the toughness of polymer materials.

Microscopic insights into the failure of elastic double networks