Engineering Physics-II

Unit-I Crystal Structures and X-ray Diffraction

By
Priyanka Dubey
Department of Physics and Material Science
Madan Mohan Malaviya University of Technology
Matter:
Matter is defined as “anything which occupy space and has mass”.
The building block of Matter is “atom”.
Matter exists in three different states which are solids, liquids and gases.
MATTER

SOLID LIQUID GAS

 Solids

Crystalline Amorphous
Crystalline Solids
Crystalline solids are of two types:-

1. Single Crystal:- Single crystal has an atomic structure that repeats

periodically across its whole volume.

Single Pyrite
Crystal

Amorphous
Solid

Single Crystal
2. Polycrystalline Solids:- Polycrystal is a material made up of an
aggregate of many small single crystals (grains). In a grain, all the
atoms are oriented in same direction. Two grains are separated by
grain boundaries.

Polycrystalline
Pyrite form
(Grain)
Crystal:
A crystal is a solid composed of atoms, ions or molecules arranged in a
pattern that is periodic in three dimensions.

There is a strong correlation of structure of crystal with the mechanical,

thermal, electrical and magnetic properties of solids.
Space Lattices and Basis:
To visualize crystal structure we first consider regular periodic
arrangement of points in space which is called ‘space lattice’.
If we associate atoms or molecules (called basis) with these lattice
points we get crystal structure.
SPACE LATTICE + BASIS = CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
Space Lattice: y

B C D E
An infinite array of points in space. α
b
Each point has identical surroundings
O a A x
to all others.
Arrays are arranged exactly in a
periodic manner.
Translational Lattice Vectors:
A space lattice is a set of points such that a translation
from any point in the lattice by a vector;
Rn = n1 a + n2 b
locates an exactly equivalent point, i.e. a point with
the same environment as P.
This is translational symmetry.
The vectors a, b are known as lattice vectors and
(n1, n2) is a pair of integers whose values depend
on the lattice point.
Unit Cell:
The smallest fundamental building unit having definite arrangement
of atoms, ions or molecules which is repeated over and again to form
the entire crystal is called unit cell.
The unit cell containing only one lattice point is called primitive unit
cell.
Unit cell can be completely described by 3 basis vectors and
interfacial angles known as ‘Lattice parameters.’
Value of lattice parameters decides the shape of unit cell.
Based on the values of these lattice parameters there are 7 different
crystal systems.
Three Common Unit Cells in 3D
Bravais Lattice:
In principle, it is possible to construct infinite no. of space lattices by
changing lattice parameters in 2D and 3D but in solids only few lattices
are permissible.
The number of space lattices possible in 3D is only 14 and are known as
Bravais lattices.
Bravais mathematically showed that there are only 14 different ways of
arranging lattice points in space which are consistent with the symmetry
operations.

Bravais lattice is an infinite array of discrete points with an arrangement

and orientation that appears exactly the same, from whichever of the
points the array is viewed. Lattice is invariant under a translation
 There are only seven different shapes of unit cell which can be stacked
together to completely fill all space (in 3 dimensions) without
overlapping.

 This gives the seven crystal systems, in which all crystal structures
can be classified.
 Seven crystal systems
and fourteen Bravais Lattice
Some Basic Terms:
1-Co-ordination No.- No. of nearest neighbor atoms from the
reference atom. It tells us that each atom is surrounded by how many
similar and equal sized neighbors.
2- Formula for effective no. of atoms in a unit cell-
Neff = 1/8 x (Nc)+1/2 x (Nf)+1 x Ni
Where, Nc = No. of atoms at corner
Nf = No. of atoms at face
Ni = No. of atoms inside the unit cell

3- Packing Factor- The atomic packing fraction is defined as the ratio

of volume of atoms occupying the unit cell to the volume of unit cell.
Simple cubic structure (SC)
Atoms touch each other along the cube edges.
E.g.. Polonium
C. No. = 6
a = 2r
N
eff = 8 x 1/8 =1
Face Centered Cubic Structure (FCC)
Atoms touch each other along face diagonals.
E.g. - Al, Cu, Ag etc.
C. No.- = 12
4r = √2a
N = 8 x 1/8 + 6 x 1/2 = 4
eff
Body Centered Cubic Structure (BCC)
Atoms touch each other along the body diagonals
E.g.- Cr, W, Molybdenum
C. No.- = 8
4r = √3a

N = 8 x 1/8 + 1 x 1 = 2
eff