The structure of crystalline Solids

LECTURE 2
The arrangements of atoms / ions in
the solid state.

Solid materials may be classified according to the

regularity with which atoms or ions are arranged
with respect to one another.
A crystalline material is one in which the
atoms are situated in a repeating or periodic
array over large atomic distances; that is,
long-range order exists, such that upon
solidification, the atoms will position
themselves in a repetitive three-dimensional
pattern, in which each atom is bonded to its
nearest-neighbor atoms.
Some of the properties of crystalline solids
depend on the crystal structure of the
material, the manner in which atoms, ions, or
molecules are spatially arranged.
 Atomic hard sphere model
When describing crystalline structures, atoms (or
ions) are thought of as being solid spheres having
well-defined diameters.
This is termed the atomic hard sphere model in which
spheres representing nearest-neighbour atoms touch
one another.

All atoms are identical.

 Lattice
An infinite array of points in space, in which each
point has identical surroundings to all others.

Three-dimensional configuration of points connected by lines

used to describe the orderly arrangement of atoms in a
crystal. Each point represents one or more atoms in the
actual crystal. The lattice is divided into a number of identical
blocks or cells (unit cells) that are repeated in all directions to
form a geometric pattern.
 Lattice
In the Simple Cubic unit cell there is one lattice point
at each of the eight corners of a cube.

Unit cells in which there are lattice points only at the eight
corners are called primitive.
 Important Note!
Do not mix up atoms with lattice points!

• Lattice points are infinitesimal points in space;

• Atoms are physical objects.
 Unit Cell
The smallest component of the crystal, which when stacked together
with pure translational repetition reproduces the whole crystal.
 CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
The periodic arrangement of atoms in the crystal.

There are seven crystal

systems corresponding to
seven distinct types of unit
cells. These unit cells are
parallelepiped whose shapes
are determined by the
lengths of all three sides a, b,
c and the values of the three
interfacial angles ,  and .
 CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
The names of the seven crystals systems are:
i. Cubic;
ii. Monoclinic;
iii. Triclinic;
iv. Tetragonal;
v. Orthorhombic;
vi. Rhombohedra;
vii. Hexagonal.
Seven crystal systems
 Bravais Lattices
• The number of ways in which lattice points
can be specified in space while maintaining
translational symmetry, is limited.
• Auguste Bravais demonstrated 14 types of
such point lattices in 1848. Nobody has come
up with new ones since.

Auguste Bravais

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 Metallic Structure
Most of the metallic elements crystallize in the
following structures:
1. Body centered crystal structure (BCC);
2. Face centered crystal structure (FCC);
3. Hexagonal close-paced structure (HCP).

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Body centered crystal structure (BCC)
A metallic crystal structure that has a cubic unit cell with
atoms located at all eight corners and a single atom at the
cube center.

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Face centered crystal structure (FCC)
The crystal structure found for many metals has a unit cell of
cubic geometry, with atoms located at each of the corners
and the centers of all the cube faces.

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 Hexagonal close-paced structure (HCP)

The top and bottom faces of the unit cell consist of six atoms that
form regular hexagons and surround a single atom in the center.
Another plane that provides three additional atoms to the unit
cell is situated between the top and bottom planes. The atoms in
this mid-plane have as nearest neighbors atoms in both of the
adjacent two planes.
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