A large deformation poroplasticity theory for microporous polymeric materials

A coupled theory accounting for fluid diffusion and large deformations of elastic-viscoplastic microporous polymeric materials is presented. The theory is intended to represent the coupled deformation-diffusion response of a material which at a microscopic scale consists of a porous polymeric skeleton and a freely moving fluid in a fully connected pore space. Potential applications of the theory include modeling the response of polymer microfiltration membranes, as well as modeling the response of several hydrated biological tissues which are microporous polymeric materials containing a high concentration of liquids.