Theory of formation of polymer crystals with folded chains in dilute solution

in the free growth rate law is predicted under various assumptions. To the extent that comparison is possible, the predictions given agree with the experimental results obtained by Keller and O'Connor and others on single crystals of unbranched polyethylene grown from dilute solution. A survey is given of homogeneous nucleation in bulk polymers, where the conventional bundlelike nucleus containing segments from many different molecules is valid, and the essential results compared with those calculated for the dilute solution case. The theory given for loop nuclei is both general and precise enough at the critical points to suggest that, on crystallization from sufficiently dilute solution, crystals of a definite step height are commonly to be expected for other crystallizable linear polymers than polyethylene, provided loop formation is sterically possible.