Response of acrylate polymers containing substituted 1,3-dioxacyclohexane groups in the ester residue to mechanical and electric perturbation fields

The responses of poly(2-phenyl-5-aeryloxymethyl-5-ethyl-1,3-dioxacyclohexane) (PDAEP) to alternating mechanical and electric fields are studied. Molecular dynamics simulations, together with the comparative analysis of the dielectric spectra of PDAEP and poly(5-acryloxymethyl-5-ethyl-1,3-dioxacyclohexane) lead to conclude that Ripping motions of the 1.3-dioxacyclohexane ring may not be exclusively responsible, as it is often assumed, for the prominent beta relaxations present in the spectra of polymers containing dioxane and cyclohexane pendant groups in their structure. The dipole-correlation coefficient of PDAEP obtained from the dielectric spectra is ca. 0.62, a value similar to that reported for the dipole auto-correlation coefficient of most acrylate chains. This fact suggests that intramolecular dipolar-correlations play a dominant role in the dielectric relaxation of PDAEP. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.