The Principles of Material Theory

Abstract

All the foregoing results are supposed to be valid for all material bodies and are thus labelled universal. In contrast to this, material theory aims to describe the individual behaviour of different materials. This is done by so-called material equations, material laws or functionals, constitutive equations, material models and whatever they are called. In going into material theory, we do not only intend to work out the differences in material behaviour, but primarily to find common features, so that we can make the form of a general material equation as precise as possible, of course, without restricting the range of validity or applicability of such theory.