Il'iushin's postulate and resulting thermodynamic conditions on elasto-plastic coupling

Il'iushin's postulate is restated within a general thermodynamic strain space formulation of rate independent plasticity by means of plastic internal variables. This yields a general expression in terms of appropriate thermodynamic potentials. A combination of a thermodynamic condition, derived from the general development, with the results of Il'iushin's postulate, furnishes explicit conditions on elasto-plastic coupling. A specific example is presented, with the plastic work being the only plastic internal variable. Necessary and sufficient consitbns on the elastic moduli and their change with plastic deformation are derived, for the thermodynamic condition to be satisfied.