中文摘要：

The crystallization of polymers has been one of the major topics in polymer physics. Spherulites are common crystalline structures observed in semi-crystalline polymers. Many studies[1-5] have been performed to investigate the detailed structures and formation mechanisms. It is generally accepted that the three-dimensional geometry of spherulites develops from a stack of lamellae. During the growth process, the stacked lamellae splay apart continually and branch occasionally[6.7]. However, there are many unanswered questions. For example, what is a pri-

英文摘要：

We have given a brief overview of our recent studies of polymer crystallization using AFM. We believe that AFM will be a most important tool for investigating the crystalline structure of polymers in the near future. The in situ probing of the following processes, such as crystallization, melting, re-crystallization, etc., will provide us an opportunity to get a better understanding of polymer crystallization processes. The detailed investigation of the morphological changes of semi-crystalline polymers will provide more and more experimental results for the development of the polymer crystallization theory.