Overview

Since the discovery that polymer single crystals are composed of chain folded macromolecules in 1957, the crystallization of polymers has attracted considerable interest and still provides fascinating and fruitful areas of research. Only a few books have been fully devoted to the crystallization of polymers in the past. This book contains the proceedings of the NATO ARW devoted to the Crystallization of Polymers' which took place in September 1992 at the University of Mons-Hainaut (Belgium). In view of the variety of papers devoted to the crystallization of polymers, this book will be used in the next few years as a reference book for scientists concerned in the field of polymer physical chemistry. Crystallization of Polymers is mainly devoted to the experimental and theoretical study of the crystallization of synthetic polymers. As a kinetic study of the growth of polymer crystals should always be preceded by a morphological or a structural investigation, the structure, the morphology of polymer crystals and more particularly the lamellar and supralamellar organizations, as well as the nature of the crystal amorphous interface are reviewed and discussed.