A thermodynamic approach to non-linear viscoelasticity

We show that Extended Irreversible Thermodynamics (EIT) may be regarded as a unifying thermodynamic scheme which generates a variety of non-linear viscoelastic equations of state. In particular, we show how the so-called eight-constants Oldroyd model, with all its invariant properties, may be derived from the postulates of EIT. It is also shown that the structure of the thermodynamic based rheological equations of state is in complete agreement with that of the representation theorems formulation of constitutive relationships originally proposed by Rivlin and Ericksen. We discuss how more complex rheological models can be derived from higher order approximations of the theory. Finally, the connections between our approach and other related works are briefly discussed.