Chapter-2

Crystalline Structure
 Objectives and Outline
 To introduce students with fundamental concepts
of different types of crystalline structures
 Introduce Miller indices for a plane and describe
the difference in atomic/molecular structure
between crystalline and noncrystalline materials.

The present discussion is devoted to some of the arrangements that may be assumed by atoms in
the solid state. Within this framework, concepts of crystallinity and non-crystallinity are introduced.
For crystalline solids, the notion of crystal structure/systems is presented, specified in terms of a unit
cell. The three common crystal structures found in metals are then detailed, along with the scheme
by which Crystallographic points, directions, and planes are expressed. Another section of this
chapter describes how crystal structures are determined experimentally using x-ray diffraction
techniques. Finally the relationship between material structure and material properties is discussed.

16
WHY WE STUDY The Structure of Crystalline
Solids?
• Crystal structure is one of the most important aspects of materials
science and engineering as many properties of materials depend
on their crystal structures (the manner in which atoms, ions, or
molecules are spatially arranged)

• The basic principles of many materials characterization

techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission
electron microscopy (TEM) are based on crystallography.

Therefore, understanding the basics of crystal structures is of

paramount importance.
For example, pure and undeformed magnesium and beryllium, having one crystal
structure, are much more brittle (i.e., fracture at lower degrees of deformation) than
are pure and undeformed metals such as gold and silver that have yet another crystal
structure

Furthermore, significant property differences exist between crystalline and

noncrystalline materials having the same composition. For example, noncrystalline
ceramics and polymers normally are optically transparent; the same materials in
crystalline (or semicrystalline) form tend to be opaque or, at best, translucent .
 Structural Classification of Materials
• Solid materials are classified according to the atomic arrangement
regularity (i.e how the atoms or ions are arranged with respect to one
another)

According to the Atomic arrangement

Solid Materials

Crystalline Amorphous
1. Crystalline materials:
o Atoms are arranged in a repeating or periodic pattern over large
atomic distances (long-range order exists)
o Upon solidification, the atoms will position themselves in a
repetitive three-dimensional pattern, in which each atom is bonded
to its nearest-neighbor atoms.
o All metals, many ceramic materials, and certain polymers form
crystalline structures under normal solidification conditions.
o Dense, regular-packed structures

atoms pack in periodic, 3D arrays

2.
Noncrystalline : amorphous
o also called are those that do not crystallize and
form long-range atomic order
o atoms have non periodic packing
o Occurs for: - complex structure
-rapid cooling

Non dense, random packing

Before discussing the periodic patterns of atomic arrangements in crystals
in detail, we need to look into arrangements of points in space in
periodically repeating patterns. This leads us to the concept of a space
lattice. A space lattice provides the framework with reference to which a
crystal structure can be described.
Space lattice

 A space lattice is defined as an infinite array of points in three

dimensions in which every point has surroundings identical to that of
every other point in the array.
 If we locate ourselves at any point in the array and look out in a particular
direction that lies on the plane of the paper, the scenery is the same, irrespective
of where we are.

 A space lattice can be defined by referring to a unit cell. The unit cell is the smallest
unit or building block which, when repeated in space indefinitely, will generate the
entire space lattice.
 Unit Cells and Unit
Vectors
• The Unit Cells are basic structural unit or building block of the crystal structure
and defines the crystal structure by virtue of its geometry and the atom positions
within.
• The unit cell geometry is completely defined in terms of six parameters: the
three edge lengths a, b, and c, and the three inter-axial angles α, β, γ , and are
sometimes termed the lattice parameters of a crystal structure.

Lattice parameters
axial lengths : a, b, c
interaxial angles : α, β,
γ
unit vectors:

• A unit cell with x, y, and z coordinate axes, showing axial lengths (a, b, and
c)
and interaxial angles α, β, γ.
 Crystal Systems
• The space lattice points in a crystal are occupied by atoms.
• The position of any atom in the 3D lattice can be described by a vector
ruvw = u + v + w, where u, v and w are integers.

(a) (b)

Unit Cell
The three unit vectors, can define a
cell as shown by the shaded region
in Fig.(a) This cell is known as unit
cellexample,
For (Fig. b)the crystal structures of chromium and copper are generated as:
BCC space lattice + 1 Cr atom per lattice point BCC crystal of Cr
FCC space lattice + 1 Cu atom per lattice point FCC crystal of Cu
• There are many different possible crystal structures, and it is
convenient to divide them into groups according to unit cell
configurations and/or atomic arrangements.

• Based on lattice parameters length equality/inequality and their

orientation (the angles between them, α, β and γ) a total of 7 distinct
crystal systems can be defined.

• With the centering (face, base and body centering) added to these, 14
kinds of 3D lattices, known as Bravais lattices, can be generated.

• These 14 space lattices are known as Bravais lattices, named after

their originator. They belong to seven crystal systems and are listed
below according to the crystal system.
 Crystal Systems
Cubic Crystal System: a = b = c,  =  = = 90o

Example
Au, Si, Al,
Cu, Ag, Fe,
3 space NaCl
lattices

Simple Body-centered Face-centered

cubic cubic (BCC) cubic (FCC)

Example
Tetragonal Crystal System: a = b  c,  =  = = 90o In, TiO2, -Sn

Simple Body-centered
2 space Tetragona Tetragonal
lattices l (BCT)
 Crystal Systems
Orthorhombic Crystal System : a  b  c,  =  = = 90o

Example
4 space Ga, Fe3C, -S
lattices

Simple Body-centered Base-centered Face-centered

Monoclinic Crystal System : a  b  c,  = = 90o   Example

As4S4, KNO2,
CaSO4.2H2O, -S

2 space Simple Base-centered

lattices monoclinic monoclinic
 Crystal Systems

Rhombohedral Hexagonal Triclinic

abc
a=b=c a=bc
      90o
 =  =   90o  =  = 90o =120o

1 space 1 space 1 space

lattices lattices lattices

Example Example Example

Hg, Sb, As, Bi, CaCO3 Zn, Co, Cd, Mg, Zr, NiAs K2S2O8,K2Cr2O7
 Metallic Crystal structures
Three simple crystal structures are found for most of the common metals:

• Face centered cubic

belong to the cubic crystal system,

• Body-centered cubic
HCP falls within hexagonal.
• hexagonal close-packed.
 1. The Face-Centered Cubic Crystal Structure (FCC)

o 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 cube
faces.
o copper, aluminum, silver, and gold have this crystal structure

hard sphere model the atom centers are

Section of crystal consisting
for represented by
of many FCC unit cells
the FCC unit cell small circles
 Relationship between atomic radius and edge length

o In FCC, spheres cores touch one another across a face diagonal;

o Consider the cube edge length “a “ and the atomic radius “R “

a
Derive a formula to relate unit length “a” and
atomic radius “R”???
 Coordination Number
o Are number of closest neighbors or number of touching atoms
o For FCC, the front face atom has four corner nearest-neighbor atoms
surrounding it, four face atoms that are in contact from behind, and four
other equivalent face atoms residing in the next unit cell to the front.

Count, there are total of 12 nearest neighbor

atoms Coordination number = 12
 Number of atoms in a unit cell
o In FCC crystal structure, each corner atom is shared among eight unit
cells,
whereas a face-centered atom belongs to only two.
o Therefore, one-eighth of each of the eight corner atoms and one-half of
each of the six face atoms, or a total of four whole atoms, may be
assigned to a given unit cell.
o Each corner atom contributes as 1/8. There are 8 corner atoms in FCC
unit
cell. Each face atom contributes as ½.There are 6 face atoms.
R
 Atomic Packing Factor (APF)
• The APF is the sum of the sphere volumes of all atoms within a unit cell
(assuming the atomic hard sphere model) divided by the unit cell
volume
• fraction of volume occupied by hard spheres

(maximum possible)
In General APF Depends on:
• Crystal structure.
• How “close” packed the atoms are.
• In simple close-packed structures with hard sphere atoms, it is independent of
atomic radius R and unit cell length a

R Summary for FCC

•||unit vector|| length a=
•There are 4 atoms/unit
cell
•Coordination number = 12
•APF = 0.74
 2. The Body-Centered Cubic Crystal Structure (BCC)
• Common metallic crystal structure with atoms located at all eight
corners and a single atom at the cube center
Example lithium, sodium, potassium, chromium, barium, vanadium, alpha-iron
and tungsten.

aggregate of many atoms hard sphere unit cell representation a reduced-sphere

unit cell
 Relationship between atomic radius and edge length

• Center and corner atoms touch one another along cube

diagonals
 Coordination Number for BCC

There are a total of 8 nearest neighbor atoms. Coordination number = 8

Number of atoms in a BCC unit

cell
 Each corner atom contributes as 1/8.
 There are 8 corner atoms as in FCC unit cell.
 The center atom contributes as 1.
 There is only 1 center atom
Atomic packing factor (APF) for BCC

Summary for FCC

o ||unit vector|| = a =
o 2 atoms/unit cell
o Coordination number =
8
o APF = 0.68
29
 3. Hexagonal Close-Packed Crystal Structure (HCP)

Examples beryllium, cadmium, magnesium, titanium, zinc and zirconium.

o It consists of three layers of atoms.
o The bottom layer has six corner atoms and one face
centered atom.
o The middle layer has three full atoms.
o The upper layer has six corner atoms and one face
centered
atom.
o Each and every corner atom contributes 1 / 6 of its part
to one unit cell.
o The number of total atoms contributed by the corner
atoms 31
 Assignment 1

1 What is the atomic packing factor of simple cubic Lattice

show clearly and make it stepwise.
2 After Drawing the HCP with atoms at proper place, Find a
relation between a, and c, number of atoms/unit cell, unit
cell volume, coordination number, and APF for the HCP
crystal structure?

33
 Theoretical Density
• Understanding the crystal structure of a metallic solid permits computation
of
its theoretical density through the relationship

34
 Example
• Copper has an atomic radius of 0.128 nm, an FCC crystal structure, and
an atomic weight of 63.5 g/mol. Compute its theoretical density and
compare the answer with its measured density?

35
 Polymorphism and
Allotropy
• Many elements or compounds exist in more than one crystalline form under
different conditions of temperature and pressure. This phenomenon is
termed polymorphism and if the material is an elemental solid is called
allotropy.
• Allotropy
– Polymorphism in elemental solid
– Ex. Carbon can exist as graphite or diamond
– One familiar example is found in carbon: graphite is the stable polymorph at ambient
conditions, whereas diamond is formed at extremely high pressures.
• Pure iron has a BCC crystal structure at room temperature, which changes to
FCC iron at 912 °C ( 1674 °F).
• Iron (Fe – Z = 26)
• liquid above 1539 °C.
• δ-iron (BCC) between 1394 and 1539 °C.
• Υ-iron (FCC) between 912 and 1394 °C.
• α-iron (BCC) between -273 and 912 °C.

36
Some common metallic structures

37
 Crystallographic Points, Directions, and Planes

Point Coordinates
• When dealing with crystalline materials, it often becomes necessary to
specify
a particular point within a unit cell
• The position of any point located within a unit cell may be specified in
terms of its coordinates as fractional multiples of the unit cell edge lengths
(i.e., in terms of a, b, and c).
consider the unit cell and the point P
Where, q is some fractional length of “a” along
the x axis, r is some fractional length of “b”
along the y axis, and similarly for s. Thus, the
position of P is designated using coordinates q
r s with values that are less than or equal to
unity.

42
 Example
• For the unit cell shown in the accompanying sketch (a), locate the
point
having coordinates

43
 Example….

Specify point coordinates for all

atom positions for a BCC unit cell.

44
 Crystallographic Directions
Q. Why is crystallographic direction Important? What is the purpose of studying them?
A Crystallographic directions are Important because, material properties vary along the
different material directions. Then by studying them and using this known properties along
with this known directions,1) We can make a better product. 2) We can also make sure
that, the known properties in the specified directions are good for the application we
intended to use it for.

Efficient strong Ni(FCC) single crystal turbine blades 
burn less fuel at higher temperatures because blade
s are grown on [110] close packed direction.

By eliminating grain boundaries, single-crystal airfoils have longer

thermal and fatigue life, are more corrosion resistant, can be cast
with thinner walls—meaning less material and less weight—and have
a higher melting point temperature. These improvements all
contribute to higher gas turbine thermal efficiencies.
Crystallographic directions (Unit Cell Directions)
within a cubic unit cell

Four step Method for Drawing Direction given the Indices

1. Select Origin at O (0,0,0) or Choose new O’ and label axes X’, Y’, Z’
2. Reduce indices to maximum value of 1 to keep direction within unit cell.
3. Locate from the origin to a position in the unit cell of the reduced indices.
4. Draw direction from the origin, tail, to the arrow Tip, head.

Four step Method for Determining the Indices Given the Direction
[Link] a new Origin at O’ at tail if the tail is away from (0,0,0)
[Link] O’ and new axes X’, Y’, Z’.
[Link] coordinates from tail at O’ to head of direction X, Y, Z
4. Reduce multiples, eliminate fractions, round integers, use – for negative, enclose in [U V W]
where u, v, and w are integers
• The u, v, and w integers correspond to the reduced projections along the x, y, and
z axes, respectively.
 Alternative way of determining the indices is to substitute the step from 1 to 3 above by (Head-
Tail) arithmetic operation
Example
Given indices > draw direction [0 1 2]
1. Select origin O at 0, 0, 0 OR (choose new O' & label axes X' Y' Z')
2. Reduce indices to maximum value of 1 to keep direction within unit cell: ½[0 1 2] =
0, ½, 1
3. Locate from the origin at 0,0,0 to a position in the unit cell at x=0 + y=1/2 + z = 1
at 0, ½, 1
4. Draw direction from 0,0,0 to arrow tip at 0, ½, 1
Example
Construction of Specified Crystallographic Direction

Draw a and [1 1 1] direction within a cubic unit cell.

 Families of Crystallographic directions

• For some crystal structures, several nonparallel directions

with different indices are actually equivalent; this means that
the spacing of atoms along each direction is the same.
• For example, in cubic crystals, all the directions represented
by the following indices are equivalent

48
 Crystallographic directions for hexagonal
crystals
• A problem arises for crystals having hexagonal symmetry in that some
crystallographic equivalent directions will not have the same set of
indices.

Consider Vectors q and r

If we keep the 3-coordinate system:

Different set of indices. However, these two vectors are equivalent

by symmetry (i.e. via 60 o rotation)

⃗
𝒓
⃗
𝒒

• This is circumvented by utilizing a four-axis, or Miller–Bravais,

coordinate system
 Four coordinate
• The three a1, a2 , andsystem
a3 axes are all contained within a single plane (called
the basal plane) and are at angles 120 0 to one another. The z axis is
perpendicular to this basal plane.
• Directional indices will be denoted by four indices, as [uvtw]; by convention,
the first three indices pertain to projections along the respective a1, a2 , and
a3 axes in the basal plane.

52
 Transforming 3 indices to 4
indices

• The primed indices are associated with the three-index scheme and unprimed
with the new Miller–Bravais four-index system. (Of course, reduction to the
lowest set of integers may be necessary)
Example
• Show and in the Miller-Bravais (4 axes)
coordinate system

Indices are now consistent within the family, but where do these numbers come from?

54
• Example 1

57
• Example 2

• Show the following directions in

HCP

58
 Crystallographic Planes
Planes in a crystal are described by notations called Miller indices (h k l)

The procedure employed in determination of the h, k, and l index :

1. Determine the intercepts(lattice parameters a, b, and c) of the plane along the crystal
axes (take infinite if the plane is parallel to an axis)
If the plane passes through the origin,
a. another parallel plane must be constructed within the unit cell by an
appropriate translation, or
b. new origin must be established at the corner of another unit cell.
2. Take the reciprocals. 1/a,1/b,1/c
3. If necessary, clear fractions and reduce to lowest terms.
4. Finally, the integer indices, not separated by commas, are enclosed within
parentheses , thus: (hkl).

Example Intercepts on a= ¾, b =½, c = ¼,

Reciprocal = 4/3, 2, 4
Clear fraction and reduce =2, 3, 6
Miller indices=(2 3 6)
Example
• Assign Miller indices to the following plane

𝟏
𝟑
Example

−𝟏

Exercise
Construct planes by Miller indices of planes (0 ) and (1 1 )
Example
Intercepts on a, b, c = 1,,
Reciprocal =
No need to clear fraction and reduce

Miller indices=(1 0 0)

Exercise
 Family of planes {hkl}
Planes having similar indices are equivalent, e.g. faces of the cube
(100), (010) and (001). This is termed as a family of planes and
denoted as {100} which includes All the (100) combinations including
negative indices.
Equivalent Planes

Note the shift of origin from blue to red circle for the negative indices
 Relationship between direction and planes
In the cubic system planes and directions having same indices are
perpendicular to each other i.e. if [uvw] direction is perpendicular to (hkl)
plane then h = u, k = v and l = w
Example, {100} planes and <100> directions are perpendicular to each other.

If [uvw] direction is parallel to (hkl), that is if [uvw] lies in the plane (hkl)
then hu + kv + lw = 0.
Example, [0] lies in the plane (111) since 1.(-1) + 1.1 + 1.0 = 0

However, for other crystal systems there are no simple geometrical

relationships between planes and directions having the same indices
 Planes in Hexagonal system

• In the cubic system all the faces of the cube are equivalent, that is,
they have similar indices.
• However, this is not the case in the hexagonal system. The six
prism faces for example have indices (1 0 0), (0 1 0),(1 1 0 ), (1 0
0 ), (01 0), (11 0 ), which are not same(Not in permutation).
(1 1 0 )

(010)
(100)

• In order to address this, a fourth axis (a3) which is opposite to the

vector sum of a1 and a2 is used and a corresponding fourth index i is
used along with hkl. Therefore the indices of a plane is given by
(hkil) where i = -(h+k).
 Planes in Hexagonal system
The indices of six faces now become (1 01 0), (0 11 0), (1 1 0 0), (1
0 1 0), (01 1 0), (11 0 0 ) which are now equivalent and belong to the {1
01 0} family of planes.
(1 1 0 0)
Example
(0 11 0)

(1 01 0)
 Atomic arrangements on a crystallographic plane
The atomic arrangement on a crystallographic plane in a unit cell depends on the crystal
structure, Consider the (110) plane as an example

FCC:

(a) reduced sphere (b) atomic packing of an FCC (110) plane

BCC:

(a) reduced sphere (b) atomic packing of an BCC (110) plane

 A family of planes contains all the planes that are crystallographically equivalent.
 Linear Atomic Density
𝑵𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒗𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓
𝑳𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 =
𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒗𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓
• Directional equivalency is related to the atomic linear density in the sense that equivalent
directions have identical linear densities.

Example
<110> directions in the FCC lattice have 2 atoms (1/2 x 2 corner
atoms + 1 center atom) and the length is a

LD
2 2
 
[110 ]
2a a
This is the most densely packed direction in the FCC lattice
 Planar Atomic Density
• Planar density (PD) refers to density of atomic packing on a particular plane.

𝑵𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒆

𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 =
𝑨𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒆

• Crystallographic planes that are equivalent have the same atomic planar
density. 
Example
There are 2 atoms (1/4 x 4 corner atoms + 1/2 x 2 side atoms) in the {110}
planes in the FCC lattice. Planar density of {110} Planes in the FCC crystal
PD
2 2
  2
(110 )
a 2a a

2a
 Planar density
In the {111} planes of the FCC lattice there are 2 atoms
(1/6 x 3 corner atoms + 1/2 x 3 side atoms). Planar density
of {111} planes in the FCC crystal
PD
2 4
 
(111)
1 3 3a
2a  2a
2 2
2

This is higher than {110} and any other plane. Therefore,

{111} planes are most densely packed planes in the FCC
crystal

2a
 Structure-Property correlation
Aluminium (Al) is ductile while iron (Fe) and magnesium (Mg) are
not. This can be explained from their crystal structures.
Al is FCC where as Fe is BCC and Mg is HCP.

Plastic deformation in metals takes place mainly by a process called

slip. Slip can broadly be visualized as sliding of crystal planes over
one another. Slip occurs on most densely packed planes in the most
closely packed directions lying on that plane.
The slip plane and the direction together is called a Slip system

 A crystal structure with higher slip system is ductile while a crystal structure
with few slip system is brittle!
 Structure-Property correlation
• In FCC, {111} planes are close-packed and there are four unique {111}
planes. Each of these planes contains three Closely packed <110>
directions. Therefore, there are 4 x 3 = 12 slip systems

{111} family 
z ( 111 ) or z ( 111 ) or z ( 1 11 ) or z ( 11 1 ) or
(111 ) (1 1 1) ( 11 1 ) ( 1 11 )

y y y y
x x x x
 • In HCP, the basal plane, (0001) is the close-packed and it contains
three directions. Hence, number of slip system = 1 x 3 = 3

• In BCC structure on the other hand has 48 possible slip systems.

However, there is no close-packed plane.
• Hence, plastic deformation before fracture is not significant. Slip might occur in
{110}, {112} and {123} planes in the <111> directions.

• Slip in more number of slip systems allows greater plastic deformation

before fracture imparting ductility to FCC materials. Therefore, that is why
Aluminium (Al) is ductile while iron (Fe) and magnesium (Mg) are not.

• Close-packed planes are also planes with greatest interplanar spacing and
this allows slip to take place easily on these planes.
 ANISOTRO
PY
• The physical properties of single crystals of some substances depend on the
crystallographic direction in which measurements are taken.
• For example, the elastic modulus, the electrical conductivity, and the index of
refraction
may have different values in the [100] and [111] directions
• This directionality of properties is termed anisotropy, and it is associated with the
variance of atomic or ionic spacing with crystallographic direction
• Substances in which measured properties are independent of the direction
of measurement are isotropic
• the degree of anisotropy increases with decreasing structural symmetry—
triclinic structures normally are highly anisotropic

62
 X-RAY DIFFRACTION: DETERMINATION OF CRYSTAL STRUCTURES

• the atomic and molecular arrangements in solids has resulted from x-ray
diffraction investigations
• Diffraction occurs when a wave encounters a series of regularly
spaced obstacles that
– are capable of scattering the wave
– have spacing's that are comparable in magnitude to the
wavelength .
• Furthermore, diffraction is a consequence of specific phase
relationships established between two or more waves that have been
scattered by the obstacles
X-Ray Diffraction and Bragg’s Law
• X-rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation that have high energies
and short
wavelengths—wavelengths on the order of the atomic spacings for
solids.

• When a beam of x-rays impinges on a solid material, a portion of this beam

will be scattered in all directions by the electrons associated with each atom
63
• Let us now examine the necessary conditions for diffraction of
x-
rays by a periodic arrangement of atoms.
• Consider the two parallel planes of atoms A-A’ and B-B’ which
have the same h, k, and l, Miller indices and are separated by
the interplanar spacing .

64
• Now assume that a parallel, monochromatic, and coherent beam of x-rays
of wavelength λ is incident on these two planes at an angle θ . Two rays in
this beam, labeled 1 and 2, are scattered by atoms P and Q.

• Constructive interference of the scattered rays 1’ and 2’ occurs also at an

angle θ to the planes, if the path length difference between 1-P - 1’and 2-Q –
2’ (i.e.,

• is equal to a whole number, n, of wavelengths. That is, the condition for

diffraction
This is known as Bragg’s law; n is the order of
reflection, which may be any integer (1, 2, 3, . . . )
consistent with Sinθ not exceeding unity. Thus, we
have a simple expression relating the x-ray
wavelength and interatomic spacing to the angle of the
diffracted beam.
If Bragg’s law is not satisfied, then the interference
will be non constructive in nature so as to yield a
very low- intensity diffracted beam. 65
• The magnitude of the distance between two adjacent and parallel planes of
atoms (i.e., the interplanar spacing d hkl ) is a function of the Miller indices (h,
k, and l) as well as the lattice parameter(s).
• For example, for crystal structures that have cubic symmetry,

Where , a is the lattice parameter (unit cell edge length

• for the BCC crystal structure, h+k+l must be even if diffraction is to
occur,
whereas for FCC, h, k, and l must all be either odd or even

66
• Example
• For BCC iron, compute (a) the interplanar spacing, and (b) the
diffraction angle for the (220) set of planes. The lattice
parameter for Fe is 0.2866 nm. Also, assume that
monochromatic radiation having a wavelength of 0.1790 nm is
used, and the order of reflection is 1.

67