Relation between Conformational Properties and Yield Behavior of Isotactic Polypropylene under Extension by an Atomistic Modeling Approach

Molecular mechanics technique has been used for finding energy-minimized conformation to understand the mechanism of yielding of glassy polymers in atomistic level. As a model polymer, amor- phous isotactic polypropylene (iPP) was generated by molecular mechanics and molecular dynamics methods. The stress-strain cone was successfully obtained by using molecular mechanics technique. The torsional angle distribution showed no significant change during extension, although the torsional angles of certain bonds in polymer backbone changed more largely than other bonds. No significant change in the van der Waals interaction is observed at yielding point, whereas the torsional angle energy starts to decrease at yield strain.