STRUCTURE OF CRYSTALLINE

SOLIDS
WHY STUDY The Structure of
Crystalline Solids?
The properties of some materials are directly related to their crystal
structures.

Significant property differences exist between crystalline and

noncrystalline materials having the same composition.
FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS

• Crystalline material is one in which the atoms are situated

in a repeating or periodic array over large atomic distances
• Noncrystalline or amorphous material - one in which the
long-range atomic order is absent thus, random and
disordered atomic distribution is found.
• Crystal structure of a material, is the manner in which
atoms, ions, or molecules are spatially arranged
FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS

• Atomic hard sphere model – atoms (or ions) are thought of as

being solid spheres having well-defined diameters, i.e., spheres
representing nearest-neighboratoms touch one another.
• Lattice – a 3-dimensional array of points coinciding with atom
positions (or sphere centers)
FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS

• Unit cells – basic structural unit or building block of the crystal

structure and defines the crystal structure by virtue of its geometry
and the atom positions within.
• Unit cells for most crystal structures are parallelepipeds or prisms
having 3 sets or parallel faces, one is drawn within the aggregate of
spheres.
SPACE LATTICE AND UNIT CELLS

An imaginary network of lines, with

atoms at intersection of lines,
representing the arrangement of
atoms is called space lattice. Unit
cells repeat themselves to form the
space lattice
SPACE LATTICE AND UNIT CELLS

The unit cell geometry is

completely defined in terms of the
three edges and three inter-axial
angles.
CRYSTAL SYSTEMS
• Crystal system – a group of crystal structures with similar unit cell
geometry and/or atomic arrangements. There are 7 crystal systems
• According to Bravais (1811-1863) fourteen standard unit cells can
describe all possible lattice networks.
• The four basic types of unit cells are
Ø Simple
Ø Body Centered
Ø Face Centered
Ø Base Centered
BRAVAIS LATTICES
BRAVAIS LATTICES
METALLIC CRYSTAL
STRUCTURES
• Atomic bonding is metallic and nondirectional.
• Mostly dense atomic packings since there are no restrictions as to
the number and positions of nearest-neighbor atoms.
• Most common structures: face-centered cubic, body-centered
cubic and hexagonal close-packed.
METALLIC CRYSTAL
STRUCTURES
 FACE-CENTERED CUBIC (FCC)

• Unit cell is cubic geometry.

• Atoms are located at each of the corners and centers of all the cube faces.
• Each corner atom is shared among eight unit cell, whereas a face-
centered atom belongs to only two.
• A total of four whole atoms may be assigned to a given unit cell.
• Some of the metals having this structure are copper, aluminum, silver, and
gold
FACE-CENTERED CUBIC (FCC)
FACE-CENTERED CUBIC (FCC)
FACE-CENTERED CUBIC (FCC)
FACE-CENTERED CUBIC (FCC)
FACE-CENTERED CUBIC (FCC)
BODY-CENTERED CUBIC (FCC)

• A cubic unit cell with atoms located

at all eight corners and a single
atom at the cube center.
• Center and corner atoms touch one
another along cube diagonals.
• Two atoms are associated with
each BCC unit cell.
BODY-CENTERED CUBIC (FCC)
 HEXAGONAL CLOSE-PACKED (HCP)

• Unit cell is hexagonal.

• 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 3 additional atoms to the unit cell is
situated between the top and bottom planes. The atoms in this
midplanehave as nearest neighborsatoms in both of the adjacent
two planes.
HEXAGONAL CLOSE-PACKED (HCP)

• If a and c represent,
respectively, the short and
long unit cell dimensions,
the c/a ratio should be
1.633; however for some
HCP metals this ratio
deviates from the ideal value.
HEXAGONAL CLOSE-PACKED (HCP)
ATOMIC RADII AND CRYSTAL STRUCTURES
SEATWORK
SEATWORK
POLYMORPHISM AND ALLOTROPY

• Polymorphism – a phenomenon in
which some metals or nonmetals have
more that one crystal structure.
• Allotropy – polymorphism in elemental
solids
RESEARCH WORK:

What other elements exhibit polymorphism or allotropy?

Give a brief discussion
CLOSED PACK CRYSTAL
STRUCTURES
• Close-packed planes of
atoms are planes
having a maximum
atom or sphere-packing
density.
 SINGLE CRYSTAL

• For a crystalline solid, when

the periodic and repeated
arrangement of atoms is
perfect or extends throughout
the entirety of the specimen
without interruption, the result
is a single crystal
POLYCRYSTALLINE MATERIALS

• Polycrystalline – crystalline solids that are

composed of a collection of many small crystal
or grains.
VARIOUS STAGES IN SOLIDIFICATION
ANISOTROPY

• Anisotropy – directionality of properties of materials

which is associated with the variance of atomic or
ionic spacing with crystallographic direction.
ANISOTROPY

• The extent and magnitude of anisotropic effects in

crystalline materials are functions of the symmetry of
the crystal structure. The degree of anisotropy
increases with decreasing structural symmetry –
triclinic structures are normally highly anisotropic.
ISOTROPY

Properties that are independent of the direction of

measurement are isotropic.
X-RAY DIFFRACTION

Properties that are independent of the direction of

measurement are isotropic.
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
X-RAY DIFRRACTION