Part 1: Basic Concepts of

Crystal Structures
Unit 3: The Chemistry of Engineering Materials
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 Part 1: Basic Concepts of
Crystal Structures
Unit 3: The Chemistry of Engineering Materials
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 01 Crystal Structure

02 Unit Cells

03 Density Computations

04 X-Ray Diffractions of Crystals

05 Types of Crystals
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06 Amorphous Solids
 01
Crystal Structure
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 Solids

Crystalline Amorphous

 Possesses rigid and long range-order  Lacks a well-defined arrangement and

long range molecular order
 Its atoms, molecules, or ions occupy
specific positions

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 Solids

Crystalline Amorphous

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 Solids

Crystalline Amorphous

 Ice  Rubber

 Table salt  Polymer

 Quartz

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 02
Unit Cell
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 Unit Cell
It is the basic repeating structural unit of a crystalline structure

Each sphere represents an atom, an ion,

or a molecule and is called a lattice
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point.
 7 types of unit cells
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 Packing Spheres
• We can understand the general geometric requirements for crystal
formation by considering the different ways of packing a number
of identical spheres to form an ordered three-dimensional structure

• The way the spheres are arranged in layers determines what type
of unit cell we have
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 Top view of one layer of spheres

Definition of a simple cubic cell

Because each sphere is shared 8 unit cells and there are 8

corners in a cube, there is the equivalent of 1 complete
sphere inside a simple cubic cell

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 Coordination number
The number of atoms (or ions) surrounding an atom (or ion) in a crystal
lattice
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Face-Centered Cubic (FCC) Crystal Structure
● A crystal structure with atoms located at each of the corners and the
center of all the cube faces
● Some familiar metals having FCC crystal structure are copper, aluminum,
silver, and gold
Face-Centered Cubic (FCC) Crystal Structure

The cube edge length a and the atomic radius R are related through:
● In determining the number of atoms associated with each unit cell, that
depends on an atom’s location - shared atoms with adjacent unit cells
may be considered
● The number of atoms per unit cell, N, can be computed using the
following formula:
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There are 2 important characteristics of a crystal structure:

● Coordination number –number of nearest-neighbor or touching atoms

● Atomic packing factor (APF) – the sum of the sphere volumes of all
atoms within a unit cell divided by the unit cell volume
Body-Centered Cubic (BCC) Crystal Structure
● It is another common metallic crystal structure that also has a cubic unit
cell with atoms located at all eight corners and a single atom at the center
of the cube
Body-Centered Cubic (BCC) Crystal Structure
● It is another common metallic crystal structure that also has a cubic unit
cell with atoms located at all eight and a single atom at the center of the
cube
● For the number of atoms per BCC
 03
Density Computations
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Density Calculations
 04
X-ray Diffraction of Crystals
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X-Ray Diffraction
● It refers to the scattering of X-Rays by the units of crystalline solids
● The patterns produced by the scattering, or diffraction are used to deduce
the particle arrangement in the solid lattice
 05
Types of Crystals
• Ionic

• Covalent

• Molecular

• Metallic
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Ionic Crystals
There are 2 important characteristics of ionic crystals:

● They are composed of charged species

● Anions and cations are generally quite different in size
Ionic Crystals
● Most ionic crystals have high melting points which is an indication of the
strong cohesive forces holding the ions together

● A measure of the stability of ionic crystals is the lattice energy; the higher
the lattice energy, the more stable the compound

● Since the ions are fixed in position, therefore these solids do not conduct
electricity
Covalent Crystals
● Covalent crystals exists when atoms are held together in an extensive
three-dimensional network altogether by covalent bonds
● Each carbon of diamond is sp3 hybridized
where it is bonded to 4 other atoms

● The unusual hardness and very high

melting point of diamond are attributed
by the strong covalent bonds that exist in
three dimensions
● For graphite, each atoms are arranged in
six-membered rings

● The atoms are sp2- hybridized and each

atom is covalently bonded to 3 other
atoms
● Graphite is considered as a good
conductor of electricity in direction along
the planes of carbon atoms, since
electrons are free to move around

● The hardness of graphite is caused by the

covalent bonds that exist in layers which
is held together by weak van der Waals
forces
● The layers of graphite can slide on one
another, that’s why it is slippery to touch
and is an effective lubricant
Molecular Crystals
● Molecular crystals consist of atoms or molecules held together by van der
Waals forces and/or hydrogen bonding
Molecular Crystals
● In general, except in ice, molecules in molecular crystals are packed
together as closely as their size and shape allow.

● Because van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonding are generally quite
weak compared with covalent and ionic bonds, molecular crystals are
more easily broken apart than ionic and covalent crystals.

● Indeed, most molecular crystals melt below 200°C.

Metallic Crystals
● It has the simplest structure because every lattice points are occupied by
an atom of the same metal

● Metallic crystals are usually body-centered cubic, face-centered cubic or

hexagonal close-packed, hence they are usually very dense
 06
Amorphous Solids
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Amorphous Solids
● Solids are most stable in crystalline form. However, if a solid is formed
rapidly (for example, when a liquid is cooled quickly), its atoms or
molecules do not have time to align themselves and may become locked
in positions other than those of a regular crystal.

● The resulting solid is said to be amorphous.

● Amorphous solids, such as glass, lack a regular three-dimensional

arrangement of atoms.
Exercise:

Explain why diamond is harder than

graphite. Why is graphite an electrical
conductor but diamond is not?