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An elastic deformation is reversible: after removal of the deforming loads the material returns to its reference state, and its instantaneous stress is determined by its current deformation rather than a plastic or viscous history. In the infinitesimal approximation the displacement field $u_i$ gives the infinitesimal strain tensor $e_{ij}=(u_{i,j}+u_{j,i})/2$. The Cauchy stress tensor is defined by traction $t_i={\sigma }_{ij}{n}_j$ on a plane of unit normal $\mathbf{n}$; absence of body couples makes ${\sigma }_{ij}={\sigma }_{ji}$.

Let $\mathcal{E}(e)$ be the recoverable elastic energy per unit mass. The local mechanical power per unit volume isbecause the symmetric Cauchy stress tensor annihilates the antisymmetric part of the velocity gradient. Conservation of energy during the deformation gives $\rho \dot{\mathcal{E}}={\sigma }_{ij}{\dot{e}}_{ij}$. Since $\dot{\mathcal{E}}=(\partial \mathcal{E}/\partial e_{ij}){\dot{e}}_{ij}$ for arbitrary symmetric strain rates,Here the derivative is the gradient on the space of symmetric tensors, with the double-contraction inner product. This convention accounts for the two occurrences of each off-diagonal entry; treating six independent coordinates without their corresponding factors would give an erroneous factor of two in shear components.

Take a stress-free reference state of mass density ${\rho }_0$. The Taylor series of the elastic energy starts quadratically:Using $\rho ={\rho }_0+O(|e|)$ gives ${\sigma }_{ij}=c_{ijkl}{e}_{kl}+O(|e{|}^2)$, the relation of linear elasticity. If the reference state has initial stress, the first-order expansion also retains that constant stress. Symmetry of stress and strain gives the minor symmetries $c_{ijkl}=c_{jikl}=c_{ijlk}$, while equality of the mixed second derivatives of elastic energy gives the major symmetry $c_{ijkl}=c_{klij}$. Thus the elastic stiffness tensor is a symmetric map on a six-dimensional strain space: there are $6\cdot 7/2=21$ independent coefficients.

For twofold elastic symmetry, choose the symmetry axis as $x_3$. Rotation through $\pi$ is $Q=\mathrm{diag}(-1,-1,1)$, and transforms the infinitesimal strain tensor into $Qe{Q}^T$. Components $e_{11},e_{22},e_{33},e_{12}$ are even and $e_{23},e_{13}$ are odd. Invariance of elastic energy excludes every coupling between these parity classes. In the engineering strain ordering $(e_{11},e_{22},e_{33},2e_{23},2e_{13},2e_{12})$, with corresponding stress ordering $({\sigma }_{11},{\sigma }_{22},{\sigma }_{33},{\sigma }_{23},{\sigma }_{13},{\sigma }_{12})$, the symmetric stiffness matrix has the formIts symmetric even block has ten independent entries and its symmetric odd block has three. Hence a twofold axis leaves $13$ independent coefficients. No invariance under other rotation angles has been assumed.