Solution grown polymer crystals

Summary A survey is presented on some front line issues in the field of polymer crystallisation from dilute solution. The major portion of the review is devoted to the discussion of the problem of disorder in the simplest single crystal forms which can be considered as a preliminary for the understanding of the nature and behaviour of the amorphous content in a crystalline polymer. Available evidence for the existence of both disorder and crystallographic regularity along the fold surface is critically reviewed, and the compatibility of theoretical considerations with the various conceivable fold surface models is being analysed. The critical surveying of these issues suggests some obvious ways in which the apparently conflicting claims as regards the nature of the true fold surface could be reconciled, and along which future investigations could be fruitfully conducted. Some exploratory work aimed at the clarification of the disorder problem in single crystals pursued along some new lines in our laboratory is being outlined. In addition, single crystal growth from chemically inhomogeneous molecules (copolymers) is also touched upon.In the second part of the review a brief survey is presented of the research in a newly emerging field concerned with crystals with intrinsically fibrous habit resulting from crystallisation during flow, a topic which opens up new perspectives in the subject of polymer crystals.Finally some rather illuminating pictorial similarities between crystals from solution and the melt are placed in juxtaposition.