MATERIAL SCIENCE

B.E., III Semester

Mechanical Engineering
CBCS - Scheme
 What are Materials?
• That’s easy! Look around.
• Our clothes are made of materials, our homes
are made of materials - mostly manufactured.
Glass windows, vinyl sliding, metal silverware,
ceramic dishes…
• Most things are made from many different
kinds of materials.
 Kinds of Materials
• Metals: are materials that are normally combinations
of "metallic elements". Metals usually are good
conductors of heat and electricity. Also, they are quite
strong but malleable and tend to have a lustrous look
when polished.
Ex: Iron, Al, Cu, Ti and Ni
• Ceramics: are generally compounds between metallic
and nonmetallic elements. Typically they are
insulating and resistant to high temperatures and
harsh environments. They are frequently oxides,
nitrides and carbides.
• Ex: alumina, silicon oxide, silicon carbide, silicon
nitride etc.
 Kinds of Materials
• Plastics: (or polymers) are generally organic
compounds based upon carbon and hydrogen. They
are very large molecular structures. Usually they are
low density and are not stable at high temperatures.
• Ex: polyethylene, nylon, PVC, polystyrene etc.
• Semiconductors: have electrical properties
intermediate between metallic conductors (viz.
metals and metal alloys) and ceramic insulators (viz.
ceramics and polymers). Also, the electrical
properties are strongly dependent upon small
amounts of impurities.
 Kinds of Materials
• Composites: consist of more than one
material type. Fiberglass, a combination of
glass and a polymer, is an example. Concrete
and plywood are other familiar composites.
Many new combinations include ceramic
fibers in metal or polymer matrix.
 Newer Branches of Materials
Science
• Nanotechnology: a relatively new area grown out of
techniques used to manufacture a semiconductor
circuits. Machines can be produced on a microscopic
level. Example - miniature robots to do surgery
inside the body or miniature chemical laboratories
and instruments that will continuously analyze blood
and dispense medications inside the body.
 Materials Science
• Materials science is an interdisciplinary field applying
the properties of matter to various areas of science
and engineering.
• Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that
studies the physical and chemical behavior of
metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds,
and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also
the technology of metals:
• Metallurgy has evolved into three separate groups:
• Extractive, Mechanical, and Physical
 Materials Science
• Defined as the study of the properties of solid
materials and how those properties are determined
by a material’s composition and structure.
• Example - the dramatic role of iron throughout the
ages is not really the result of it being "strong". In
reality, iron has been important because we can
change its properties by heating and cooling it.
• The ability to change the properties and/or behavior
of a material is what makes most materials useful
and this is at the heart of materials science!
 History of Materials
• Even our history has been defined by the materials
we use…
• The stone age (approximately 2.5 million B C)
• The copper age (approximately 3500 - 2300B C)
• The bronze age (approximately 3000 B C)
• The iron age (approximately 1500 B C)
• What would be a good material name for today?
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
 Crystallography
• Crystallography is the science of the arrangement of atoms in
solids.
• Crystallography is that branch of science in which the internal
structure of crystals, their properties, external or internal
symmetric of crystals are studied.
• Crystalline materials consist of atoms or molecules arranged
in a regular and orderly manner in a three dimensional
pattern.
• The various terms associated with crystallography are:
1. Crystal: A crystal is a solid whose constituent atoms or molecules are
arranged in a systematic geometric pattern. Arrangement of atoms
Crystal = Lattice + Basis or Motif
1. Structure: The structure implies the arrangement and disposition of the
atoms with in a crystal.
2. Space lattice: the atoms arrange themselves in distinct pattern in space
called a space lattice.
3. Unit cell: the unit cell is the smallest group of atoms possessing the
symmetry of the crystal.
4. Crystallographic planes: the layer of atoms or the planes along which
atoms are arranged are known as atomic or CP.
5. Lattice parameter: characteristic intercepts and interfacial angles of a
crystal constitute the lattice parameters of a cell. (OR)
The length of unit cell edges and the angles between crystallographic axis
are referred to as lattice constants , or lattice parameters
7. Miller indices: it is a system of notation for designating crystallographic
planes and directions of crystals.
y
Space lattice:

B C
D E
α
b

O x
a A

Unit cell
The unit cell and,
consequently, the
entire lattice, is
uniquely determined by
the six lattice
constants: a, b, c, α, β
and γ. These six
parameters are also
called as basic lattice
parameters.
Classification of Matter
 Solids
A solid is one of the three states of matter, in which
atoms are closely packed as compared to the other
two states.

Solids are again classified in to three types

 Crystalline
 Non-Crystalline (Amorphous)
 A combination of two.
 What is a Crystalline solid?
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material, whose
constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in
an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three
spatial dimensions.

So a crystal is characterized by regular arrangement of

atoms or molecules
 Examples !
• Non-Metallic crystals:
Ice, Carbon, Diamond, Nacl, Kcl etc…

• Metallic Crystals:
Copper, Silver, Aluminium, Tungsten, Magnesium
etc…
Crystalline Solid
 Amorphous Solid
• Amorphous (Non-crystalline) Solid is composed of
randomly orientated atoms , ions, or molecules that do
not form defined patterns or lattice structures.

• Amorphous materials have order only within a few atomic

or molecular dimensions.
• Amorphous materials do not have any long-range
order, but they have varying degrees of short-
range order.

• Examples to amorphous materials include

amorphous silicon, plastics, and glasses.

• Amorphous silicon can be used in solar cells and

thin film transistors.
Non-crystalline
Three general types of solids : (a) amorphous, (b) polycrystalline
and (c) crystalline
 What are the Crystal properties?

o Crystals have sharp melting points

o They have long range positional order

o Crystals are anisotropic

(Properties change depending on the
direction)

o Crystals exhibit Bi-refringence or double refraction (Light

into two rays)

o Some crystals exhibit piezoelectric effect

& Ferroelectric effect etc…also
 Unit Cell
• The smallest component of the crystal (group of
atoms, ions or molecules), which when stacked
together with pure translational repetition
reproduces the whole crystal.
• The smallest volume that contains the full pattern of
repetition is called a unit cell
single unit cell 3-D array of unit cells
• Metallic Crystal Structures:
• Types of cubic unit cells
– simple or primitive (scc)
– body-centered (bcc)
– face-centered (fcc)

Copyright McGraw-Hill 2009 28

 Number of atoms per unit cell
• Simple Cubic:
• Simple Cubic has one lattice point so its
primitive cell. b
c
• corner atoms – 1/8 atom within unit cell.
a
• Number of atoms per unit cell = 8 * 1/8

• scc: 1 atom
• Body- centered cubic (BCC) structure:
• A bcc unit cell has one atom in the centre of
the cube and one atom each at all the corners.
Of course, the corner atom is shared by other
adjoining body center cubes.
• Thus the unit cell of bcc structure contains

8 atoms at the corners X 1/8 = 1 atom

1 centre atom = 1 atom
-------------------------------------------------------------
Total= 2 atoms
bcc: 2 atoms
• Face- centered cubic (FCC) structure:
• A fcc unit cell has one atom in the centre of the
cube and in addition, one atom each at the
intersection of the diagonals of each of the six
faces of the cube.
• Thus the unit cell of fcc structure contains
8 atoms at the corners X 1/8 = 1 atom
6 face - centered atoms X 1/2 = 3 atom
-------------------------------------------------------------
Total= 4 atoms
fcc: 4 atoms
 Coordination Number
• Coordination Number (CN) : The Bravais lattice points
closest to a given point are the nearest neighbours.
• The coordination number may also be defined as the
nearest neighbors to an atom in a crystal (Ex: CH4).
• Because the Bravais lattice is periodic, all points have the
same number of nearest neighbours or coordination
number. It is a property of the lattice.
• A simple cubic has coordination number 6; a body-centered
cubic lattice, 8; and a face-centered cubic lattice,12.
Coordination number – number of atoms
(particles) surrounding an atom in a crystal
lattice
• Indicates how tightly atoms pack
• Larger coordination numbers indicate tighter
packing

Copyright McGraw-Hill 2009 33

 Coordination Number
• The coordination number may also be
defined as the nearest neighbors to an
atom in a crystal.

Simple Cubic : there is one atom at each of the (8)

corners of the Cube. Any corner atom has four
nearest atoms in the same plane and two nearest
neighbors ( one above and one below) in a vertical
plane.

• Hence coordination number for simple cubic

structure is 4 + 2 = 6

Coordination Number for SCC = 6

(Courtesy P.M. Anderson)

 Body Centered Cubic (BCC) Crystal Structure
• In BCC structure, there is one atom at each corner of the cube and one atom at
the centre of the cube. For any corner atom of the unit cell, the nearest atoms
are the atoms which are at the centers of unit cells.
• As such corner atom is surrounded by eight unit cells having eight body centered
atoms, hence coordination number is 8
• Examples :-
 Chromium (a=0.289 nm)
 Iron (a=0.287 nm)
 Sodium (a=0.429 nm)
 Face Centered Cubic (FCC) Crystal Structure
• In FCC structure, there is one atom at each corner of the cube and one atom at
the centre of each face of the cube.
• For any corner atom of the unit cell, the nearest are the face centered atoms.
• For any corner atom, there will be 4 face centered atoms of the surrounding unit
cells in its own plane, 4 F Cntd atoms below this plane and 4 centrd atoms above
this plane.
• Hence Coordination number for FCC structure is 4+4+4 = 12

• Examples :-
 Aluminum (a = 0.405)
 Gold (a = 0.408)

Figure 3.6 a&b

 Atomic Packing Factor (APF)
• The packing of atoms in a unit cell of the crystal structure of a
material is known as atomic packing.
• The packing arrangements of atoms depends on (i) the
relative radii of the atoms involved and (ii) also on the
character of bonding between atoms.
• Atomic Packing Factor (APF) is defined as the volume of
atoms per unit cell divided by the volume of the unit cell.
 ATOMIC PACKING FACTOR
Volume of atoms in unit cell*
APF =
Volume of unit cell
*assume hard spheres

a volume
atoms atom
R=0.5a unit cell 4
1 (0.5a)3
3
APF =
close-packed directions
contains 8 x 1/8 = a3 volume
1 atom/unit cell unit cell
Adapted from Fig. 3.19,
Callister 6e.

Lattice constant
• APF for a simple cubic structure = 0.52
 Body Centered Cubic (BCC) Crystal
Structure
• Each atom has 8 nearest neighbors.
• Therefore, coordination number is 8.

• Examples :-
 Chromium (a=0.289 nm)
 Iron (a=0.287 nm)
 Sodium (a=0.429 nm)

Figure 3.4 a&b

 BCC Crystal Structure (Cont..)
Each unit cell has

(8x1/8) + 1 = 2 atoms

• Atoms contact each

other at cube diagonal

Figure 3.5
Therefore, lattice 4R
constant a =
3
Atomic Packing Factor of BCC
Structure
Volume of atoms in unit cell
Atomic Packing Factor =
Volume of unit cell

 4 R 3 
Vatoms = 2.  = 8.373R3
 
 3 
3
 4R 
V unit cell = a3 =   = 12.32 R3
 
 3 

8.723 R3 = 0.68
Therefore APF = 12.32 R3
 BODY CENTERED CUBIC STRUCTURE
(BCC)
• Coordination # = 8

Adapted from Fig. 3.2,

(Courtesy P.M. Anderson) Callister 6e.

Close packed directions are cube diagonals.

--Note: All atoms are identical; the center atom is shaded
differently only for ease of viewing.
 ATOMIC PACKING FACTOR: BCC
Close-packed directions:
length = 4R
= 3a
Unit cell contains:
1 + 8 x 1/8
=2 atoms/unit cell
R
Adapted from a
Fig. 3.2,
Callister 6e. atoms volume
4
unit cell 2 ( 3a/4)3
3 atom
APF =
volume
a3
unit cell
• APF for a body-centered cubic structure = 3/8 = 0.6
 Face Centered Cubic (FCC) Crystal
Structure
• Coordination number for FCC structure is 12

• Atomic Packing Factor is 0.74

• Examples :-
 Aluminum (a = 0.405)
 Gold (a = 0.408)

Figure 3.6 a&b

 FCC Crystal Structure (Cont..)
Each unit cell has

(8 x 1/8)+ (6 x ½) = 4 atoms

Therefore, lattice 4R
constant a =
2 Figure 3.7
 FACE CENTERED CUBIC STRUCTURE
(FCC)
• Coordination # = 12

Adapted from Fig. 3.1(a),

(Courtesy P.M. Anderson) Callister 6e.

Close packed directions are face diagonals.

--Note: All atoms are identical; the face-centered atoms are shaded
differently only for ease of viewing.
 ATOMIC PACKING FACTOR: FCC
Close-packed directions:
length = 4R
= 2a
Unit cell contains:
6 x 1/2 + 8 x 1/8
=4 atoms/unit cell
a
Adapted from
Fig. 3.1(a),
Callister 6e.atoms volume
4
unit cell 4 ( 2a/4)3
3 atom
APF =
volume
a3
unit cell
• APF for a body-centered cubic structure = /(32) = 0.
(best possible packing of identical spheres)
 COMPARISON OF CRYSTAL
STRUCTURES

Crystal structure coordination # packing factor close packed directions

Simple Cubic (SC) 6 0.52 cube edges

Body Centered Cubic (BCC) 8 0.68 body diagonal

Face Centered Cubic (FCC) 12 0.74 face diagonal

Hexagonal Close Pack (HCP) 12 0.74 hexagonal side