Symmetric Biot stress ($T^{(1)}=\frac{1}{2}(PR+R^T{P}^T)$)

Use the material-first nominal stress $P_{Ii}$ and $F=RU$. The symmetric Biot stress conjugate to the Biot strain tensor is $T^{(1)}=\mathrm{sym}(PR)$. To prove it, set $M=P^T$ and differentiate $F=RU$. Conservation of angular momentum makes $M{F}^T$ symmetric, so the contraction of $R^{T}M$ with $R^T\dot{R}U$ is zero: it is a contraction of a symmetric tensor with a skew tensor after cyclically moving $U$. Thus $M:\dot{F}=\mathrm{sym}(R^{T}M):\dot{U}=T^{(1)}:{\dot{E}}^{(1)}$. No assumption that $PR$ itself is symmetric is needed.