The plastic wave propagation in materials with prescribed prestraining and strain rate history effects is investigated. The development is within the framework of the endochronic theory of viscoplasticity. The stress‐time, strain‐time profiles and wave velocity at different strain levels have been obtained theoretically and presented for comparison with experimental data on 1100–0 A1. Furthermore, the difference between the total strain rate and the plastic strain rate in the calculation have been thoroughly disscussed.