STRUCTURE OF MATTER

‫كلية طب الفم واألسنان‬

‫رؤية الكلية‬
‫تتطلع الكلية أن تكون في مصاف المؤسسات التعليمية المعترف بها إقليمياً وعالمياً من خالل برامج تعليمية متطورة‬
.‫وأبحاث تطبيقية مبتكرة وتنمية مجتمعية مستدامة‬

The Faculty aspires to be a recognized educational institution, regionally and internationally, by

providing advanced educational programs, innovative applied research, and sustainable community
development.

‫رسالة الكلية‬
‫ ذو كفاءة معرفية وتطبيقية من خالل برامج تعليمية‬،‫إعداد طبيب أسنان ملتزم بالقيم االنسانية واألخالق المهنية‬
‫ كما تلتزم الكلية بإعداد بحوث تطبيقية‬.‫متطورة تتوافق مع االحتياجات الفعلية لسوق العمل المحلي والعالمي‬
.‫متوافقة مع االستراتيجيات القومية وكذلك تقديم خدمة مجتمعية مستدامة وفقاً لمعايير الجودة العالمية‬

The mission is to prepare knowledgeable and well-trained dentists committed to human values and
professional ethics, by developing advanced educational programs that correspond to the actual
needs of the local and global labor market. The Faculty is also committed to preparing applied
research in line with national strategies, as well as providing sustainable community service
following international quality standards.
Learning objectives

By the end of this chapter, the student

should be able to explain the atomic
relations and space lattices of different
types of dental materials.
All materials are built up from
atoms and molecules
There is a close relationship between
the atomic basis of a material
and its properties.
Generally, the physical, mechanical and
chemical properties of any material
depend mainly on:
1) Atomic structure.
2) Inter-atomic bonding.
3) Arrangement of atoms in space.
 I. Atomic structure
The atom is the basic building unit for all elemental matter
It is composed of:-
1- Central positive nucleus [positively charged protons and uncharged
neutrons].
2- Revolving electrons around the nucleus in definite orbits [negatively
charged particles] (state of energy levels or shells).

N.B;
Electrical state of the atom: Neutral.
Atomic number: Number of electrons.
Atomic weight: Protons + Neutrons

Valence electrons:
Electrons in the outermost shell,
They determine the chemical reactivity of the element.
Periodic Table

-
+ ++
 II. Interatomic Bonding
Atoms achieve a stable state by having eight
electrons in their outer shell (as in inert
gases).
This can be obtained by:
1) Receiving extra electrons to complete the
outer shell electrons (and the atom becomes
negative ion).
2) Releasing electrons so that the outer shell has
eight electrons (and the atom becomes
positive ion).
3) Sharing of electrons so that the outer shells of
two or more atoms are complete.
Interatomic Bonding Forces
in the Solid State
The formation of bonds involves only the outer most
valence elec

A-Primary atomic bonds.

a- Ionic (electron transfer).
b- Covalent (electron sharing).
c- Metallic (electron release).

B- Secondary force
 1-Ionic (Electron Transfer).
It indicates electron transfer, attraction of
positive and negative ions.
The classic example is sodium chloride (Na+ C1-),
because the sodium atom contains one
valence electron in its outer shell
and the chlorine atom has seven electrons in its
outer shell, the transfer of the sodium valence
electron to the chlorine atom results in the
stable compound Na+ Cl-.
i- Ionic Bond
 2) Covalent Bond

Sharing of electrons
Two valence electrons are shared by adjacent atoms.
Hydrogen molecule, H2 →
single valence electron in each hydrogen atom is shared
with that of the other combining atom, and the
valence shells become stable.
Covalent bonding occurs in many organic compounds,
such as hydrocarbons (CH4) and acrylic resin.
 3) Metallic Bond
It is the attraction between +ve cores and free electrons
or electron cloud.
It occurs in metals, because they easily give up the electrons in their
valence shells giving positive cores.
The electrons move freely through the metal from atom to atom and form
electron cloud.
There is attraction between free electrons
and the positive charged cores.

Characteristics of metallic bond:

The free mobility of electrons contributes to the following properties of
metals:
* High thermal and electrical conductivity.
* Metallic luster (free electrons re-emit light).
II. Secondary Forces
(Van Der Waal Forces):
These forces are physical, weak, less heat
resistant and arise from the polarization of
molecules
i.e. formation of electrical dipoles.
δ+ δ- δ+ δ-

Characteristics of secondary bonds:

1. Low strength and hardness.
2. Low thermal resistance.
A- Fluctuating Dipole:
Instantaneous location of more electrons on
one side of the molecule than the other →
asymmetry in their electron distribution.
Very weak bonds can develop between molecules
because these molecules attain a dipole character.
This leads to weak attractive forces between
the fluctuating dipoles in adjoining atoms
b) Permanent Dipole:
The hydrogen bond is an important example.
In H2O there is a covalent bond because oxygen and
hydrogen atoms share electrons. electrons around
oxygen nucleus are more than those around the
hydrogen
nucleus →
hydrogen portion of the water
molecule is positive in relation
to the oxygen portion.
"attraction will take place between
the positive hydrogen portion of
one water molecule and
the negative oxygen portion
of another water molecule".
III-Atomic Arrangement and
Crystal Structure
Solid substances are classified according to the
regularity of the atoms or molecules
in the three spatial directions, into:-

1- Crystalline
2-Non-crystalline (Amorphous)
 1- Crystalline
Solid dental materials are termed
crystalline when their atoms are
regularly arranged in a space lattice.
A space lattice is the regular
arrangement of atoms in the space so that
every atom is situated similarly to every
other atom.
 Types of Space Lattices
There are about 14 different
types of space lattice but
only few are of dental
interest. The simplest way to
study these types, is to
consider a unit cell which is
the smallest repeating unit
in the space lattice.
 1- Crystalline Structure
Unit cells are classified
z
according to:
1) The length of their axes (a,b,c).
2) The interfacial angles (,,).
c

α
β
α

y
a

b
x
SCS
1) The Cubic System:
- The length of the axes a,b,c are equal.
- The interfacial angles =  =  = 90°
The are three types of the cubic system. -

a) Simple Cubic Space Lattice (S.C.):

The unit cell has one atom at each corner.
Each atom is surrounded with eight unit cells.
Therefore each atom has 1/8 of its volume
in each of these eight cells,
so S.C. contains 8 x 1/8 = one atom.
b) Body Centered Cubic (B.C.C.):
Each corner is occupied by 1/8 of an atom with one atom at the center of the cube.
Therefore, the number of atoms in a B.C.C. unit cell is (8 X 1/8 = 1 + 1 in the
center) = 2 atoms
c) Face Centered Cubic (F.C.C.):
Each corner is occupied with an atom and one in the center of each of the six faces.
Atoms at each face shared by two adjacent unit cells. So F.C.C. contains (8 X 1/8 + 6
X 1/2) = 4 atoms.
2) The Hexagonal System:
The axis a = b but # c.
The angle  =  = 90° but the angle  equals
120°.
a) The simple hexagonal system
(S.H.) contains:
6 x 1/6 (at corners of top surface) +
6 x 1/6 (at corners of bottom surface) +
2 X 1/2 (at top and bottom surfaces) = 3
atoms.
b) The hexagonal closed packed
system (HCP)
12 X 1/6 (at corners) +
2 X 1/2 (at top and bottom surfaces) +
3 at the center = 6 atoms,
so this structure has the densest packing of
atoms.
 s

Atomic Packing Factor (APF)

i
h

Definition: It is the fraction of the space of the structure

T

unit occupied by the atoms and is calculated by:

APF= vol. of atoms in the unit cell/ vol of unit
cell
Simple Cubic = 0.54 indicates that nearly 50% of the space is free so that
other atoms can occupy this free space without causing too much disruption
to the crystalline structure.
B.C.C. = 0.68 and F.C.C. = 0.74
With these larger atomic packing factors it is of course more difficult for smaller
atoms to occupy the free space without disrupting the structure.

Higher APF  * higher stability,

* higher densities and
*higher strength properties.
 2-Amorphous
Amorphous means without shape.
Gases and liquids are amorphous substances.
Some solids like glass and some polymers are amorphous
because of the random arrangement of their atoms, yet
their atoms may form a short localized range of order
lattice with a considerable number of disordered units in
between. Since such an arrangement may be considered
typical of the liquid structure, these solids are sometimes
called "Super cooled liquids".
 Structure of Solids

1- Crystalline structure 2- Amorphous structure

- Regular repetition arrangement - No regularity in the arrangement of
of unit cell atoms
- Low energy - Higher energy
- Definite melting point - Gradual softening and gradual
hardening
Crystalline Imperfections
The calculated theoretical strength of crystalline
materials was found to be much higher than the
actual strength. Why?

Their nature is not perfect =

They contain defects or imperfections

Types of Crystalline Imperfections

*Point defects
*Line defects (dislocation)
*Planer defects (area defects)
Point defects
1) Vacancy: missing atom within the crystal
* imperfect packing during crystallization
* thermal vibrations→ individual atoms may jump
2) Impurities: an extra atom
lodged within the crystal
a) interstitial
b) substitutional
Line defects (dislocation)
The most common type of line defect is called
dislocation = displacement of a raw of atoms from
their normal positions in the lattice →
plastic deformation in metals due to movement of
dislocations
Planer defects (area defect)
They are present at grain
boundaries in metals.
Polymorphism (Allotropy):
Polymorphic materials are these that can exist with
more than one crystal structure by changing the
surrounding physical condition.
Polymorphic forms have same chemical composition
but different physical properties.
Silica (SiO2)
It is an important example for allotropy in dentistry. It
exist in nature in four different allotropic forms,
which are; Quartz, Tridymite, Cryslobalite and Fused
quartz.
Each form have different physical properties but all
are chemically SiO2.
Silica (SiO2)
It is an important example for allotropy in dentistry. It
exist in nature in four different allotropic forms, which
are; Quartz, Tridymite, Cryslobalite and Fused quartz.
 With the application of heat to silica,
two types of transformations can take
place:

Displacive Reconstructive
transformation transformation
i. It takes place at i.Takes place at higher
low temp. temp.
ii. No bond breakage, ii. Involves bond
only atomic breakage.
displacement
iii. Accompanied by iii. Not accompanied by
thermal expansion thermal expansion
Correlation between atomic structure
and materials properties
The properties of materials depend basically on the
type of bonds which dominate in the structure,
the space lattice and the atomic packing.
1) Density is controlled by atomic weight,
atomic radius, and the atomic packing factor.
2) Melting and boiling temperatures can be
correlated with the strength of the bond. Increased
temperatures raise the energy until the atoms are able to
separate themselves one from the other. Stronger bonds
need higher temperature to impart the necessary energy
for melting.
3) Thermal expansions of materials with
comparable atomic packing factors vary
inversely with their melting temperature. i.e.
The higher the melting temperature, the less
the coefficient of thermal expansion.
4) Strength governed by the type of bond,
although the arrangement of atoms controls
the deformation and resistance to stresses.
5) Crystalline structures have lower energy
level while amorphous structures have higher
energy due to irregular arrangement or short
order arrangement of their atoms. Therefore
the amorphous structures do not have definite
melting temperature but rather softening
temperature. i.e. They soften before melting.
Thank you