Constitutive modelling in finite thermoviscoplasticity: A physical approach based on nonlinear rheological models (Q1574632)

The author presents a physical approach to the formulation of constitutive laws of finite thermoviscoplasticity. In order to take into account thermal strains, the author decomposes the total strain into a thermal and a mechanical part. The mechanical deformation is the driving force for the stress, and the thermal strain is a function of temperature. In addition, the mechanical strain is divided into elastic and inelastic parts. The stress depends only on the elastic strain, whereas the inelastic deformation is a functional of the process history. It corresponds to that part of strain which remains if the stress is reduced to zero. To describe the kinematic hardening by internal variables of strain type, the author introduces a further decomposition of inelastic deformation into two parts, which has a motivation on the microscopic scale. The first new part can be interpreted as a spatial average of local lattice deformations caused by dislocation fields, and the second new part can be attributed to inelastic slip processes on the microscale. Based on these ideas, the author formulates a straightforward procedure to specify the free energy which satisfies the dissipation principle in the form of Clausius-Duhem inequality. The potential relations for stress, kinematic hardening variable and entropy as well as the evolution laws for internal variables give sufficient conditions for the non-negativity of entropy production. It is found that the Armstrong-Frederick model of hardening is incorporated in the present model as a special case. Subsequently, the theory can be extended to finite non-isothermal deformations. To develop the constitutive relations for free energy, stresses, internal variables and entropy, the author considers a further rheological model in combination with the concept of dual variables, and checks the validity of the Clausius-Duhem inequality.