MMT ASSIGNMENT 5

SOLID STATE CRYSTALLINE

STRUCTURE
 QUESTION 2

Body-Centered Cubic (BCC) Structure

• The body-centered cubic unit cell has atoms at each of the eight corners of a
cube (like the cubic unit cell) plus one atom in the center of the cube. So total 2
atoms.
• The volume of atoms in a cell per the total volume of a cell is called the packing
factor. The bcc unit cell has a packing factor of 0.68.
• Each of the corner atoms is the corner of another cube so the corner atoms are
shared among eight unit cells. It is said to have a coordination number of 8.
• The bcc structure is often the high temperature form of metals that are close-
packed at lower temperatures.
QUESTION 2

Face Centered Cubic (FCC) Structure

• The face centered cubic structure has atoms located at each

of the corners and the centers of all the cubic faces. Each of
the corner atoms is the corner of another cube so the corner
atoms are shared among eight unit cells. Net 4 atoms.
• The packing factor (the volume of atoms in a cell per the total
volume of a cell) is 0.74 for fcc crystals.
• Since 12 of its atoms are shared, it is said to have a
coordination number of 12.
QUESTION 2

Hexagonal Close Packed (HCP) Structure

• The hexagonal structure of alternating layers is shifted so its atoms are

aligned to the gaps of the preceding layer. The atoms from one layer nest
themselves in the empty space between the atoms of the adjacent layer
just like in the fcc structure. However, instead of being a cubic structure,
the pattern is hexagonal.
• Each of the 12 atoms in the corners of the top and bottom layers
contribute 1/6 atom to the unit cell, the two atoms in the center of the
hexagon of both the top and bottom layers each contribute ½ atom and
each of the three atom in the middle layer contribute 1 atom.
• The packing factor is 0.74, which is the same as the fcc unit cell
• The coordination number of the atoms in this structure is 12.
 QUESTION 5
Face centered cubic crystals

• Slip in face centered cubic (fcc) crystals occurs along the close packed plane.
Specifically, the slip plane is of type {111}, and the direction is of type <110>.
In the diagram on the right, the specific plane and direction are (111) and
[110], respectively.

• Given the permutations of the slip plane types and direction types, fcc crystals
have 12 slip systems [2]. In the fcc lattice, the norm of the Burgers vector, b,
can be calculated using the following equation:

Where a is the lattice constant of the unit cell.

 QUESTION 5
Body centered cubic crystals

• Slip in body-centered cubic (bcc) crystals occurs along the plane of

shortest Burgers vector as well; however, unlike fcc, there are no truly
close-packed planes in the bcc crystal structure. Thus, a slip system in
bcc requires heat to activate.
• Some bcc materials (e.g. α-Fe) can contain up to 48 slip systems. There
are six slip planes of type {110}, each with two <111> directions (12
systems). There are 24 {123} and 12 {112} planes each with one <111>
direction (36 systems, for a total of 48). Although the number of possible
slip systems is much higher in bcc crystals than fcc crystals, the ductility
is not necessarily higher due to increased lattice friction stresses
 QUESTION 5
Hexagonal close packed crystals

• Slip in hexagonal close packed (hcp) metals is much more limited than
in bcc and fcc crystal structures. Usually, hcp crystal structures allow
slip on the densely packed basal {0001} planes along the <1120>
directions.
• The activation of other slip planes depends on various parameters, e.g.
the c/a ratio. Since there are only 2 independent slip systems on the
basal planes, for arbitrary plastic deformation additional slip or twin
systems needs to be activated. This typically requires a much higher
resolved shear stress and can result in the brittle behavior of some hcp
polycrystals. However, other hcp materials such as pure titanium show
large amounts of ductility
QUESTION 6
• Miller indices form a notation system in crystallography for planes
in crystal (Bravais) lattices
• In particular, a family of lattice planes is determined by three
integers h, k, and ℓ, the Miller indices.
• With hexagonal and rhombohedral lattice systems, it is possible to
use the Bravais-Miller system, which uses four indices (h k i ℓ) that
obey the constraint
h + k + i = 0.
• Here h, k and ℓ are identical to the corresponding Miller indices,
and i is a redundant index.
• This four-index scheme for labeling planes in a hexagonal lattice
makes permutation symmetries apparent. For example, the
similarity between (110) ≡ (1120) and (120) ≡ (1210) is more
obvious when the redundant index is shown.
MILLER DIRECTIONS
MILLER PLANES