Thermodynamical bounds to the elastic behaviour of elastic materials

We propose to exploit the second principle of thermodynamics in a different way from that usually followed in continuum mechanics. We study the consequences of this approach as far as the path-dependent character of the constitutive equations is concerned. The analysis leads us to infer that for materials capable of thermoelastic behaviour there are, in general, states of deformation beyond which a deformation process cannot occur without violating the second principle of thermodynamics. The relation between these states of deformation and those relevant to the yield limit is considered.