Thermomechanics of Viscoplasticity: Fundamentals and Applications

This comprehensive monograph is the first to treat an important and challenging subject in mechanics, namely, the thermomechanics of viscoplasticity. This entails an examination of the geometrical and thermodynamical properties of mechanical behavior of metals and many polymeric and paste-like materials which are indispensable for developing a rational theory of viscoplasticity.

Key features and topics include:
a comparative review of various models of thermodynamics including classical, rational, statistical, and endochronic, with a special approach to inelastic high speed histories; a tensor representation approach to thermo-inelastic coupled fields connected to a generalized associativity of flow rule; includes a comparison with the J2 approach; discussion of Drucker, Iliushin, and Hill postulates; special attention devoted to the slight disorder of polycrystal grains; quasi-rate independence and its application to plastic waves, ratcheting and diffuse localization; micromechanics based on the micro grain approach leading to a reduced number of material constants; especially useful to the emergent field of biomechanics.

This book is intended for researchers as well as Ph.D. students in the fields of material science and continuum mechanics. Designers and engineers in the field of metal forming, car body calculations, airplane designers, and anyone involved in the design of large scale industrial parts, will also find this book highly useful. Additionally, the concepts and results illustrated in Thermomechanics of Viscoplasticity are readily applicable to the rapidly developing field of biomechanics.