The inaugural special issue on advances in polymer crystallization has been published in Polymer Crystallization.

Polymer crystallization touches different aspects of our lives, ranging from housewares to electronics. In addition, crystallizable polymers have found many other applications, including as implants, drug delivery systems, electronic sensors, and even in aircrafts.

Formation of polymeric crystals is largely kinetically controlled and often does not follow simple rules of thermodynamics. Therefore, non-equilibrium structures of different stabilities and properties are generated.

Inaugural Special Issue

One of the many remaining challenges is to understand relationships between the molecular architecture of a polymer, different available pathways of crystal nucleation and growth, the final semicrystalline morphology, and their ultimate property profile. Despite significant progress documented in the literature, many seemingly simple questions are still unanswered.

These aspects and more are highlighted in the recent Special Issue of Polymer Crystallization on advances in polymer crystallization, guest-edited by René Androsch (Martin Luther University of Halle‐Wittenberg), Maria Laura Di Lorenzo (Italian National Research Council) and Christoph Schick (Rostock University).

This issue contains both reviews and original research articles in the field from multiple perspectives. The topics cover the importance of polymer crystallization from the industrial perspective, new knowledge about the polymer crystal formation and stability, modeling and phase impact.

This special issue provides an excellent platform for discussion and better understanding and control of polymer crystallization for polymer scientists in all disciplines.