Relationship between degree of polymerization and optical and thermal properties of Bisphenol-A in polycarbonate polymers

The influences of degree of polymerization (D_p) and terminal group on thermal and optical properties of polycarbonate are investigated. In this study, Bisphenol-A homo polymer was selected because it has been used as a representative monomer in wide variety optical fields. The end terminating groups were also selected hydroxyl group and phenolic capping group. The influence on refractive index (n_d) is different depending on the terminal groups. Additionally, we proposed a short equation to estimate the glass transition temperature (T_g) as well as n_d as a function of weight percentage of linkage carbonyl groups.