Transition from “brittle” to “ductile” rheological behavior by tuning the morphology of self-assembled networks

We report on a new class of self-assembled transient networks made of surfactant micelles of tunable morphology (from spheres, to rodlike to wormlike) reversibly linked by telechelic polymers. Linear rheological measurements show that three distinct domains can be defined depending on the morphologies of the micelles: a domain where the micelles are isolated and not entangled, an intermediate domain where the micelles are partially entangled and a domain where the micelles are fully entangled. Flow curves of the transient networks of tunable morphology suggest that one can associate to the three domains distinct failures modes: a brittle mode, an intermediate mode and finally a ductile/shear banding mode, as the micelles grow. Thanks to this unique class of self-assembled networks, a continuous failure mode transition from brittle to ductile has been evidenced.