The coldness, a universal function in thermoelastic bodies (Q2548867)

The author explains how to apply to isotropic thermoelastic solids the entropy principle which he proposed in an earlier paper [Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 40, 1--36 (1971; Zbl 0229.73003)]. The chief result is the existence of a universal function, which the author calls coldness, which entails a number of universal relations between the constitutive functions, much as the absolute temperature entails universal restrictions between constitutive functions in thermostatics. In equilibrium the coldness reduces to the reciprocal of the absolute temperature. The author then proceeds to show that in an anisotropic thermoelastic solid of a simple type his theory leads to a symmetric tensor of heat conductivity.