On material-uniform elastic bodies with disclinations and their homogenization

Abstract

In this note, we define material-uniform hyperelastic bodies (in the sense of Noll) containing discrete disclinations and dislocations, and study their properties. We show in a rigorous way that the size of a disclination is limited by the symmetries of the constitutive relation; in particular, if the symmetry group of the body is discrete, it cannot admit arbitrarily small, yet non-zero, disclinations. We then discuss the application of these observations to the derivations of models of bodies with continuously-distributed defects.