Abstract
To efficiently demonstrate the molecular motion, physical properties, and mechanical properties of polycarbonates, we studied the differences between bisphenol-A polycarbonate(BPA-PC) and tetramethyl bisphenol-A-polycarbonate(TMBPA-PC) using molecular modeling techniques. To investigate the conformations of BPA-PC and TMBPA-PC and the effect of the conformation on mechanical properties, we performed conformational energy calculation, molecular dynamics calculation, and stress-strain curves based on molecular mechanics method. From the result obtained from conformational energy calculations of each segment, the molecular motions of the carbonate and the phenylene group in BPA-PC were seen to be more vigorous and have lower restriction to mobility than those in TMBPA-PC, respectively. In addition, from the results of radial distribution function, velocity autocorrelation function, and power spectrum, BPA-PC appeared to have higher diffusion constant than TMBPA-PC and is easier to have various conformations because of the less severe restrictions in molecular motion. The result of stress-strain calculation for TMBPA-PC seemed to be in accordance with the experimental value of strain-to-failure ∼4%. From these results of conformational energy calculations of segments, molecular dynamics, and mechanical properties, it can be concluded that TMBPA-PC has higher modulus and brittleness than BPA-PC because the former has no efficient relaxation mode against the external deformations.