THE ROLE OF ELASTOMERS IN THE STUDY OF POLYMER CRYSTALLIZATION

The author demonstrates, from an historical point of view, the role played by natural rubber and other elastomers in the development of our understanding of the crystallization of polymers. The concept of a first-order phase transition and the existence of an equilibrium melting temperature are basic to the understanding of the crystallization behavior of polymers. The author reviews studies of basic polymer crystallization, copolymer crystallization, the effect of crosslinking, the effect of deformation, the structure and morphology of crystalline polymers, and polymer crystallization kinetics.