Continuous symmetries and constitutive laws of dissipative materials within a thermodynamic framework of relaxation: Part I: Formal aspects

An analysis of the continuous symmetries of the constitutive laws of inelastic materials written within a thermodynamical framework of relaxation is performed. This framework relies on the generalization of Gibb’s relationship outside the equilibrium of a uniform system, and the use of the fluctuation theory to model the material dissipation due to its internal microstructure change [Cunat, C., 2001. The DNLR approach and relaxation phenomena. Part I – Historical account and DNLR formalism. Mech. Time-depend. Mater. 5, 39–65]. The approach leads to a viscoelastic like formulation for small deformations, and changes gradually for finite strains towards elastoviscoplasticity (with or without damage) via a dependence of characteristic times with the loading path, in a way similar to the endochronic approach developed by Valanis [Valanis, K.C., 1975. On the fundations of the endochronic theory of viscoplasticity. Arch. Mech. 27, 857–868]. The present thermodynamic framework has been previously applied to elastoviscoplastic materials under cyclic and non-proportional loadings [Dieng, L., Abdul-Latif, A., Haboussi, M., Cunat, C., 2005b. Cyclic plasticity modeling with the distribution of non-linear relaxations approach. Int. J. Plasticity 21, 353–379]. The constitutive laws split into the state laws relating intensive variables (thermodynamics forces) to extensive-like variables, and the complementary evolution laws of the internal variables associated to the dissipative mechanisms. An interpretation of a non-equilibrium thermodynamic approach of irreversible processes in terms of an extremum principle is proposed, associated to a Lagrangian functional. It is shown that one possible choice for the Lagrangian kernel is the material derivative of the internal energy density, augmented by a complementary term that accounts for the evolution laws of the internal variables. Interpreting the material behavior during the non-equilibrium evolution as the Euler–Lagrange equations of the resulting action integral, a differential condition expressing both the local and variational symmetries encapsulated into the Lagrangian formulation is formulated. It is further shown that both symmetry conditions are fully equivalent along the optimal path corresponding to the satisfaction of the constitutive laws. In terms of both practical and methodological aspects, the predictive nature of the symmetry analysis is highlighted, as a systematic tool for the exploitation of the constitutive response. Its performance and utility are exemplified by the construction of a time–temperature equivalence principle for a dry viscous polymer (PA66); the calculated shift factor is shown to well agree with the empirical shift factor given by Williams–Landel–Ferry (WLF) expression. A systematic interpretation of the calculated symmetry groups of the constitutive laws in terms of master curves for various plastic and viscoplastic materials shall be presented in a forthcoming contribution.