This book introduces numerous selected advanced topics in viscoelastic and viscoplastic materials. The book effectively blends theoretical, numerical, modeling and experimental aspects of viscoelastic and viscoplastic materials that are usually encountered in many research areas such as chemical, mechanical and petroleum engineering. The book consists of 14 chapters that can serve as an important reference for researchers and engineers working in the field of viscoelastic and viscoplastic materials.

Material Modeling with the Visco-Plastic Self-Consistent (VPSC) Approach: Theory and Practical Applications provides readers with knowledge of material viscoplasticity and robust modeling approaches for predicting plastic deformation of crystal aggregates. Visco-Plastic Self-Consistent (VPSC) is the identifier of a computer code developed for the specific mechanical regime addressed (visco-plastic: VP) and the approach used (self-consistent: SC) meant to simulate large plastic deformation of aggregates, thermo-elastic material deformation, as well as predict stress-strain response, texture evolution of aggregates and stress-strain state inside grains. This approach is very versatile and able to tackle arbitrary material symmetry (cubic, hexagonal, trigonal, orthorhombic, triclinic), twinning, and multiphase aggregates. It accounts for hardening, reorientation and shape change of individual grains, and can be applied to the deformation of metals, inter-metallics and geologic aggregates. Readers will have access to a companion website where they can download code and modify its input/output or add subroutines covering specific simulation research needs. Highlights a modeling approach that allows readers to accurately predict stress-strain response, texture evolution of aggregates, and internal stress states inside grains while also accounting for hardening, reorientation and shape change of individual grains Features modeling techniques that can be applied to the deformation of metals, inter-metallics and geologic aggregates Covers the theoretical aspects of homogeneous effective medium models as they apply to the simulation of plasticity and elasticity Provides several practical examples and applications of materials of different symmetry subjected to different deformation conditions

Constitutive equations refer to 'the equations that constitute the material response' at any point within an object. They are one of the ingredients necessary to predict the deformation and fracture response of solid bodies (among other ingredients such as the equations of equilibrium and compatibility and mathematical descriptions of the configuration and loading history). These ingredients are generally combined together in complicated computer programs, such as finite element analyses, which serve to both codify the pertinent knowledge and to provide convenient tools for making predictions of peak stresses, plastic strain ranges, crack growth rates, and other quantities of interest. Such predictions fall largely into two classes: structural analysis and manufacturing analysis. In the first category, the usual purpose is life prediction, for assessment of safety, reliability, durability, and/or operational strategies. Some high-technology systems limited by mechanical behavior, and therefore requiring accurate life assess ments, include rocket engines (the space-shuttle main engine being a prominent example), piping and pressure vessels in nuclear and non-nuclear power plants (for example, heat exchanger tubes in solar central receivers and reformer tubes in high-temperature gas-cooled reactors used for process heat applications), and the ubiquitous example of the jet engine turbine blade. In structural analysis, one is sometimes concerned with predicting distortion per se, but more often, one is concerned with predicting fracture; in these cases the informa tion about deformation is an intermediate result en route to the final goal of a life prediction.

This graduate text on viscoelastic materials addresses design applications as diverse as earplugs, computer disks and medical diagnostics.