| Foreword | p. ix |
| Preface and Acknowledgments | p. xiii |
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| Phases in Single-Component Systems | p. 1 |
| Macroscopic description of phases | p. 1 |
| Microscopic description of phases | p. 3 |
| Connection between microscopic descriptions and macroscopic properties | p. 7 |
| Phase Transitions in Single-Component Systems | p. 10 |
| Definitions of phase transitions | p. 10 |
| Phase equilibrium and stability | p. 12 |
| Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Phase Transitions | p. 17 |
| Thermodynamics of Phase Transitions in Single Component Systems | p. 18 |
| An example of liquid-gas transitions: van der Waals gas | p. 18 |
| General descriptions of liquid-gas and crystalline solid-liquid transitions | p. 20 |
| Crystalline solid-solid transitions | p. 24 |
| Transitions involving mesophases | p. 25 |
| Kinetic Aspects of Phase Transitions in Single Component Systems | p. 31 |
| Crystallization | p. 31 |
| Crystal melting kinetics | p. 35 |
| Transition kinetics involving mesophases | p. 37 |
| Phases and Phase Transitions in Multiple Component Systems | p. 39 |
| Gibbs phase rule | p. 39 |
| General thermodynamics of binary mixing | p. 40 |
| Liquid-liquid phase separation in binary mixtures | p. 42 |
| Kinetics of liquid-liquid phase separation in binary mixtures | p. 45 |
| Crystalline solid-liquid transitions in binary mixtures | p. 51 |
| Mesophase-liquid transitions in binary mixtures | p. 52 |
| Concepts of Metastable States | p. 61 |
| Ostwald's Stage Rule and Definition of a Metastable State | p. 61 |
| Examples of Metastable States in Phase Transitions | p. 63 |
| Metastable states in liquid-gas transitions | p. 63 |
| Metastable states in crystalline solid-liquid transitions | p. 65 |
| Appearance of Metastable States Controlled by Competing Kinetics | p. 67 |
| What are the Limitations of the Current Understanding of Metastable States? | p. 71 |
| Concept of Metastability | p. 73 |
| Metastable States in Phase Transitions of Polymers | p. 77 |
| Supercooled Liquids and Crystallization | p. 78 |
| Supercooled liquids | p. 78 |
| Comments on polymer crystallization theories | p. 81 |
| Primary nucleation process in polymer crystallization | p. 91 |
| Structure of the interfacial liquid near the crystal growth front | p. 94 |
| What is the nucleation barrier? | p. 96 |
| Superheated Crystals and Crystal Melting | p. 106 |
| Superheated crystals | p. 106 |
| Irreversible polymer crystal melting | p. 110 |
| Determining crystal metastability | p. 111 |
| Ensuring constant metastability during heating | p. 117 |
| Polymer crystal melting at elevated pressures | p. 120 |
| Polymer crystal melting kinetics | p. 122 |
| Metastable States in Phase-Separated Polymer Blends and Copolymers | p. 124 |
| Metastable states in phase-separated polymer blends | p. 124 |
| Kinetics of liquid-liquid phase-separation in polymer blends | p. 127 |
| Metastable states in phase-separated block copolymers | p. 130 |
| Polymer crystallization in nano-confined environments using diblock copolymers as templates | p. 136 |
| Metastable States Observed Due to Phase Transformation Kinetics in Polymers | p. 157 |
| Appearance of Metastable States Based on Their Crystal Nucleation Barrier | p. 158 |
| Crystal growth rates along different growth planes | p. 158 |
| Initial transient state in polymer crystallization | p. 168 |
| Nucleation and growth rates affected by chain conformation | p. 173 |
| Polymorphs and Competing Formation Kinetics | p. 176 |
| Phase stability changes in polymorphs at atmospheric pressure | p. 176 |
| Phase stability changes in polymorphs at high pressures and temperatures | p. 186 |
| External field-induced polymorphs | p. 193 |
| Monotropic Phase Transitions in Polymers | p. 195 |
| Crystallization kinetics enhanced by a preordered mesophase | p. 195 |
| Change of phase transition sequence due to existence of a preordered state | p. 199 |
| Surface- and Interface-Induced Metastable Phases | p. 20 |
| Surface-induced metastable polymorphs | p. 203 |
| Metastable states introduced by unbalanced surface stresses caused by chain folding | p. 213 |
| Interdependence of Metastable States on Different Length Scales | p. 237 |
| Combining Phase Size Effects with Polymorphs | p. 238 |
| Phase-stability changes in polymorphs based on phase sizes | p. 238 |
| Examples of phase inversion by crossing over the phase-stability boundaries | p. 245 |
| Examples of phase inversion without crossing the phase-stability boundaries | p. 256 |
| Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation Coupled with Vitrification | p. 260 |
| Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation Coupled with Crystallization | p. 266 |
| Liquid-liquid phase separation intervened by crystallization in solution | p. 266 |
| Sequential liquid-liquid phase separation and crystallization in solution | p. 270 |
| Liquid-liquid phase separation intersected by crystallization in polymer blends | p. 274 |
| Sequential liquid-liquid phase separation and crystallization in polymer blends | p. 281 |
| Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation Associated with Gelation and Crystallization | p. 286 |
| Outlook: A Personal View | p. 299 |
| Index | p. 303 |
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