ELASTIC-PLASTIC DEFORMATION AT FINITE STRAINS

In some circumstances, elastic-plastic deformation occurs in which both components of strain are finite. Such situations fall outside the scope of classical plasticity theory which assumes either infinitesimal strains or plastic-rigid theory for large strains. The present theory modifies the kinematics to include finite elastic and plastic strain components. For situations requiring this generalization, dilatational influences are usually significant including thermo-mechanical coupling. This is introduced through the consideration of two coupled thermodynamic systems one comprising thermo- elasticity at finite strain and the other the irreversible process of dissipation and absorption of plastic work. The present paper generalizes a previous theory to permit arbitrary deformation histories.