A constitutive model in finite viscoelasticity with an entropy-driven material clock (Q1368417)

By using the concept of transient polymeric network, the author derives a constitutive model for nonlinear viscoelastic response of polymers under isothermal loading at finite strains. The viscoelastic material is thought of as a network of active and dangling chains, where the rates of breakage and deformation of active chains depend on the specific entropy, i.e. the entropy is considered as a measure of mobility for polymeric chains, and this is called an entropy-driven internal clock. Contents: 1. Constitutive equations for stresses in Gaussian and non-Gaussian transient networks; 2. Explicit expressions for specific entropy, internal energy, and free energy of a network; 3. Simple shear of a viscoelastic material; 4. Concluding remarks.