The Phenomenological Theory of Linear Viscoelastic Behavior: An Introduction

This book is a textbook, providing a full exposition of the phenomenological theory of linear viscoelastic behavior for the use of the practicing scientist or engineer as well as the academic teacher or student. Although the theory was developed for polymeric materials, it is also applicable to other materials such as metals and ceramics. The theory of linear viscoelastic behavior is described through the use of the Laplace transformation. The treatment of linear time-dependent systems in terms of the Laplace transforms of the excitation and response variables has by now become commonplace in other fields. Elementary calculus and the rudiments of complex variable theory is the basic mathematical apparatus required for a profitable use of this book. The elements of transformation calculus are summarized in an Appendix.