Mechanical and Thermodynamic Considerations of an Assemblage of Homogeneous Elastic-Plastic States

Abstract

Abstract The mechanics and the thermodynamics of plastic deformation are considered in terms of a general assemblage or continuum of elastic, perfectly plastic elements or states. Such models not only match the external mechanical behavior of real materials structures and continua, but they also afford a simple thermodynamic definability. A consideration of the internal behavior shows that the stress-free state has the maximum elastic range. Hardening in the sense of an increasing macroscopic elastic range is accompanied by a release of stored strain energy; the stress-free state always is restorable. This behavior is appropriate for real structures and continua. However, it is precisely these continuum characteristics which make the assemblages inappropriate models of material behavior. Barriers to continuing plastic deformation are required which do exist on the microscale, but lie outside of the scope of the most complex of these thermodynamically well-defined assemblages.