STUCTURES OF METALS

AND CERAMICS
Engr. Lina D. dela Cruz
Chemical Engineering Department
Technological Institute of the Philippines
Why Study Structures of Metals and
Ceramics

 The properties of some materials are directly

related in their crystal structures.
 For example, pure and undeformed magnesium
and beryllium, having one crystal structure, are
much more brittle (i.e., fracture at lower degree
of deformation) than are pure and undeformed
metals such as gold and silver that have yet
another crystal structure.
Crystal structures

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.
Crystalline materials • atoms pack in
periodic, 3D arrays
typical of: metals, many ceramics and
some polymers
All metals, many ceramic materials,
and certain polymers form
crystalline structures under normal
solidification conditions.
 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.
Noncrystalline materials...
atoms have no periodic packing
"Amorphous" = Noncrystalline
Metallic Crystal Structures

The atomic bonding in this group of

materials is metallic.
There are no restrictions as to the
number and position of the nearest-
neighbor atoms; this leads to
relatively large number of nearest
neighbor and dense atomic packing
for most metallic crystal structures.
METALLIC CRYSTALS
Metals tend to be densely packed, have several
reasons for dense packing
 Typically, only one element is present, so all
atomic radii are the same.
 Metallic bonding is not directional.

 Nearest neighbor distances tend to be small in

order to lower bond energy and they have the
simplest crystal structures.
Three relatively simple crystal
structures are found for most of the
common metals:
a) body centered cubic
b) face centered cubic
c) hexagonal closed packed
Body Centered Cubic Crystal
Structure (BCC)

It has a cubic unit cell with atoms

located at all eight corners and a
single atom at the cubic center.
BODY CENTERED CUBIC STRUCTURE (BCC)

Adapted from Fig. 3.2,

Callister 6e.
ATOMIC PACKING FACTOR: BCC
APF for a body-centered cubic structure = 0.68

R
a
The Face-Centered Cubic
Crystal
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 cubic faces.
 FACE CENTERED CUBIC STRUCTURE
(FCC)

Note: All atoms are identical; the face-center

atom is shaded differently only for ease of
viewing
ATOMIC PACKING FACTOR: FCC

APF for a body-centered cubic structure = 0.74

a
Hexagonal Closed Packed (HCP)

The top and bottom faces of the unit cell

consists 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
HEXAGONAL CLOSE-PACKED STRUCTURE
(HCP)

A sites

B sites

A sites
THEORETICAL DENSITY
Ceramic Crystal structure

They are composed of at least two

elements, and their crystal structure are
more complex than metals.
The atomic bonding in these materials
ranges from purely ionic to totally
covalent
Silicate ceramics - silicates are materials
composed primarily of silicon and oxygen,
the two most abundant element in the
earth’s crust; consequently the bulk of
soils, rocks, clays and sand come under
the silicate classification.
Silica – chemically, the most simple silicate
material is silica dioxide, or silica. Silica
can also made to exist as a non
crystalline solid or glass.
Carbon – is an element that exist in various
polymorphic as well as in the amorphous
state.
a) diamond – is a metastable carbon
polymorph at room temperature and
atmospheric pressure
b) graphite – has a crystal structure
distinctly different from diamond and
also more stable than diamond at
ambient temperature and pressure.
The graphite structure is composed of layers
of hexagonally arranged carbon atoms;
within the layers each carbon atom is
bonded to three coplanar neighbor
atoms by strong covalent bonds.
Polymorphism – is the phenomenon wherein
some metals as well as non metals may
have more than one crystal structure.
When found in elemental solids, the
condition is termed as allotropy.
The prevailing crystal structure depends on
both the temperature and external
pressure.