Surface of a crystallized polymer film after a fast quench with the polymer bonds color-coded by their local nematic order parameter (darker colors indicate less crystalline order).

From the article:

Molecular Insights on the Thermal Welding of Semicrystalline Polymers
Michele Valsecchi, William S. Fall, Hendrik Meyer, Gary S. Grest, and Sanat K. Kumar
Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 098101 (2026)

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