The interaction between fundamental and industrial research and experimental developments in the field of polymer crystallization

The crystallization of polymers from the amorphous melt is a challenging field in which the material is subjected to changes in a combination of rapidly varying parameters in order to induce solidification with a controlled degree of crystallinity as well as maintain control over the macroscopic shape as well as semi-crystalline structure and orientation. The challenge lies in both the academic understanding as well as in the difficulty to reach industrially relevant conditions whilst obtaining the experimental data that can shed light on the processes governing the different competing physical processes that play a role during the processing. The development path of this type of research from the early time-resolved synchrotron radiation X-ray based to the current state of the art experiments is discussed. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.