A thermo-mechanically coupled theory for large deformations of amorphous polymers. Part I: Formulation

In this Part I, of a two-part paper, we present a detailed continuum-mechanical development of a thermo-mechanically coupled elas-to-viscoplasticity theory to model the strain rate and temperature dependent large-deformation response of amorphous polymeric materials. Such a theory, when further specialized (Part II) should be useful for modeling and simulation of the thermo-mechanical response of components and structures made from such materials, as well as for modeling a variety of polymer processing operations. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.