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-acryloxymethyl-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 flipping motions of the 1,3-dioxacyclohexane ring may not be exclusively responsible, as it is often assumed, for the prominent β 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.