The effect of thermal cycling on the state of residual stress in thermoviscoelastic polymeric materials bonded to stiff elastic substrates was investigated using numerical techniques, including finite element methods. The work explored the relationship between a cyclic temperature environment, temperature-dependent viscoelastic behavior of polymers, and thermal stresses induced in a bimaterial system. Due to the complexity of developing a closed-form solution for a system with time-and temperature-dependent material properties, and time-varying temperature and coupled boundary conditions, numerical techniques were used to acquire approximate solutions. The results indicate that residual stresses in an elastic-viscoelastic bimaterial system incrementally shift over time when subjected to thermal cycling. Potentially damaging tensile axial and peel stresses develop over time as a result of viscoelastic response to thermal stresses induced in the polymeric layer. The applied strain energy release rate at the ends of layered or sandwich specimens is shown to increase as axial stress develops. The rate of these changes is dependent upon the thermal cycling profile and the adhesive＇s thermo-mechancial response. Discussion of the results focuses on the possiblility that the increasing tensile residual stresses induced in an adhesive bond subjected by thermal cycling may lead to damage and debonding, thus reducing bond durability.