Abstract. We present a framework for the kinematics of a material body
undergoing anelastic deformation. For such processes, the material structure of
the body, as reflected by the geometric structure given to the set of body
points, changes. The setting we propose may be relevant to phenomena such as
plasticity, fracture, discontinuities, and non-injectivity of the deformations.
In this framework, we construct an unambiguous decomposition into incompatible
and compatible factors which includes the standard elastic-plastic
decomposition in plasticity