Dual-mode tension-shear model for soft staggered composites

Emerging advancements in bioinspired composite research have refocused attention on architecture-property interactions within staggered hard/soft phase systems, particularly in soft staggered composites. Classical tension-shear chain (TSC) models fail to predict modulus in soft staggered composites with moderate-to-low modulus ratios (<1000) due to their neglect of soft-phase tensile contributions. To resolve this limitation, we develop a dual-mode tension-shear (DTS) constitutive model that unifies soft-phase tensile deformation and interfacial shear transfer. Validated by finite element analysis and heterogeneous ionogel experiments, the DTS model achieves high-accuracy modulus predictions across the full modulus-ratio spectrum (2–1000). Beyond infinitesimal strain characterization, DTS uniquely reconstructs full-range nonlinear stress-stretch responses without empirical calibration through phase-specific constitutive behaviors. This capability dramatically accelerates material development cycles. By bridging biomimetic theory with synthetic innovation, the framework enables optimized design of adaptive biomedical scaffolds, energy-dissipative metamaterials, and multifunctional tissue analogues.