Families of Stress–Strain, Relaxation and Creep Curves Generated by a Nonlinear Model for Thixotropic Viscoelastic-Plastic Media Accounting for Structure Evolution Part 2. Relaxation and Stress-Strain Curves

A systematic analytical study of the mathematical properties of the previously constructed nonlinear model for shear flow of thixotropic viscoelastic-plastic media is continued. For arbitrary six material parameters and an (increasing) material function that control the model, the basic properties of the families of stress-strain curves at constant strain rates and relaxation curves generated by the model, and the features of the evolution of the structuredness under these types of loading are analytically studied. The dependences of these curves on time, shear rate, initial strain and initial structuredness of the material, as well as on the material parameters and function of the model, are studied. Several indicators of the applicability of the model are found which are convenient to check with experimental data. It was examined what effects typical for viscoelastic-plastic media can be described by the model and what unusual effects (unusual properties) are generated by a change in structuredness in comparison with typical stress-strain curves and relaxation curves of structurally stable materials. In particular, it has been proved that stress-strain curves can be both increasing functions and can have decreasing sections resembling a “yield tooth” or damped oscillations, that all stress-strain curves (SSCs) possess horizontal asymptotes (steady flow stress), monotonically dependent on shear rate, and flow stress increases with shear rate growth, that the instantaneous shear modulus, on the contrary, depends on the initial structuredness, but does not depend on shear rate. Under certain restrictions on the material parameters, the model is also capable of providing a bilinear form of stress-strain curves, which is typical for an ideal elastoplastic model, but with strain rate sensitivity. It has been established that the family of stress-strain curves does not have to be increasing either in initial structuredness or in shear rate: in a certain range of shear rates, in which the equilibrium position is a “mature” focus and pronounced oscillations of stress-strain curves are observed, it is possible to intertwine stress-strain curves with different shear rates. It is proved that for any material parameters and functions, all stress relaxation curves decrease and have a common zero asymptote as time tends to infinity. The analysis proved the ability of the model to describe behavior of not only liquid-like viscoelastoplastic media, but also solid-like (thickening, hardening, hardened) media: creep, relaxation, recovery, a number of typical properties of experimental relaxation curves, creep and stress-strain curves, strain rate and strain hardening, flow under constant stress and so on.