Changes in the response of viscoelastic solids to changes in their internal structure

The manner in which a viscoelastic body relaxes or creeps is determined by the viscoelastic body’s internal structure. In this paper, we are primarily interested in the changes in the body’s internal clock due to the changes in its structure. This internal clock’s working can be modified due to the effect of temperature, moisture, and electromagnetic fields, thereby degrading or enhancing the response of the viscoelastic body. Within a purely mechanical context, by degradation or enhancement, one means the decrease or increase in the load carrying capacity. Such degradation or enhancement due to the effect of moisture and temperature in elastic solids has been studied earlier. In this paper, we extend these ideas to the response of viscoelastic solids, particularly through the alteration of the viscoelastic body’s internal clock. To evaluate the efficacy of the model that we have developed, we study a very interesting problem, a biological application wherein the viscoelastic uterine wall’s stress relaxation characteristic changes significantly. The constitutive relation that is developed, and more importantly the methodology that is being put into place, can be used to describe a variety of problems in polymer mechanics and biomechanics and is not limited to the special example that is considered.