Thermodynamic constitutive modeling for analyzing the consistencies and differences of intelligent responses induced by thermo-elastic-viscoplastic couplings

  • Hao DUAN ,
  • W. M. HUANG ,
  • Hao ZENG ,
  • Jianping GU ,
  • Huiyu SUN
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  • 1.State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control of Mechanical Structures, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
    2.School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore
    3.School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211800, China
    4.Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Structural Materials and Application Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Institute of Technology, Nanjing 211167, China
Huiyu SUN, E-mail: hysun@nuaa.edu.cn

Received date: 2025-12-22

  Revised date: 2026-05-11

  Online published: 2026-06-30

Supported by

Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 12372071)

Copyright

© Shanghai University 2026

Abstract

Through appropriate thermo-mechanical stimulation, shape memory polymers (SMPs) can exhibit autonomous shape-morphing capabilities, which are referred to as entropic elastic (EE) or reversible plastic (RP) intelligent responses. Currently, few studies in the literature address unified constitutive modeling for these two types of intelligent responses, and thermodynamic consistency is lacking. Here, we develop a unified thermodynamically consistent constitutive model that captures hyperelastic-viscoelastic and elasto-viscoplastic couplings, thereby reproducing both the EE and RP intelligent responses. Through verification against experimental data and results from subsequent mechanistic and parametric studies, the constitutive model can not only integrate the theoretical representations of these two phenomena into a mathematical framework, but also reveal the consistencies and differences between the two types of intelligent responses.

Cite this article

Hao DUAN , W. M. HUANG , Hao ZENG , Jianping GU , Huiyu SUN . Thermodynamic constitutive modeling for analyzing the consistencies and differences of intelligent responses induced by thermo-elastic-viscoplastic couplings[J]. Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, 2026 , 47(7) : 1533 -1548 . DOI: 10.1007/s10483-026-3409-7

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