Crystal Structures
Types of crystal structures
Face centered cubic (FCC)
Body centered cubic (BCC)
Hexagonal close packed (HCP)
Close Packed Structures
Different Packing of HCP and FCC
Crystallographic Directions and Planes
cubic systems
Face Centered Cubic (FCC)
Atoms are arranged at the corners and
center of each cube face of the cell.
Atoms are assumed to touch along face
diagonals
Face Centered Cubic (FCC)
The lattice parameter, a, is related to the
radius of the atom in the cell through:
a 2R 2
Coordination number: the number of
nearest neighbors to any atom. For FCC
systems, the coordination number is 12.
Face Centered Cubic (FCC)
Atomic Packing Factor: the ratio of atomic
sphere volume to unit cell volume,
assuming a hard sphere model.
FCC systems have an APF of 0.74, the
maximum packing for a system in which all
spheres have equal diameter.
Body Centered Cubic
Atoms are arranged at the corners of the
cube with another atom at the cube
center.
Body Centered Cubic
Since atoms are assumed to touch along
the cube diagonal in BCC, the lattice
parameter is related to atomic radius
through:
4R
a
3
Body Centered Cubic
Coordination number for BCC is 8. Each
center atom is surrounded by the eight
corner atoms.
The lower coordination number also
results in a slightly lower APF for BCC
structures. BCC has an APF of 0.68,
rather than 0.74 in FCC
Hexagonal Close Packed
Cell of an HCP lattice is visualized as a top
and bottom plane of 7 atoms, forming a
regular hexagon around a central atom.
In between these planes is a half-hexagon
of 3 atoms.
Hexagonal Close Packed
There are two lattice parameters in HCP, a and
c, representing the basal and height parameters
respectively. In the ideal case, the c/a ratio is
1.633, however, deviations do occur.
Coordination number and APF for HCP are
exactly the same as those for FCC: 12 and 0.74
respectively.
This is because they are both considered close
packed structures.
Close Packed Structures
Even though FCC and HCP are close packed
structures, they are quite different in the
manner of stacking their close packed planes.
Close packed stacking in HCP takes place along
the c direction ( the (0001) plane). FCC close
packed planes are along the (111).
First plane is visualized as an atom surrounded by
6 nearest neighbors in both HCP and FCC.
Close Packed Structures
The second plane in both HCP and FCC is situated
in the “holes” above the first plane of atoms.
Two possible placements for the third plane of
atoms
Third plane is placed directly above the first plane of
atoms
• ABA stacking -- HCP structure
Third plane is placed above the “holes” of the first plane
not covered by the second plane
• ABC stacking -- FCC structure
Close Packed Structures
Crystallographic Directions
Cubic systems
directions are named based upon the projection
of a vector from the origin of the crystal to
another point in the cell.
Conventionally, a right hand Cartesian
coordinate system is used.
The chosen origin is arbitrary, but is always
selected for the easiest solution to the problem.
Crystallographic Directions
Points within the lattice are written in the
form h,k,l, where the three indices
correspond to the fraction of the lattice
parameters in the x,y,z direction.
Miller Indices
Procedure for writing directions in Miller
Indices
Determine the coordinates of the two points in
the direction. (Simplified if one of the points is
the origin).
Subtract the coordinates of the second point
from those of the first.
Clear fractions to give lowest integer values for
all coordinates
Miller Indices
Indices are written in square brackets without
commas (ex: [hkl])
Negative values are written with a bar over
the integer.
Ex: if h<0 then the direction is [hkl ]
Miller Indices
Crystallographic Planes
Identify the coordinate intercepts of the plane
the coordinates at which the plane intercepts the
x, y and z axes.
If a plane is parallel to an axis, its intercept is
taken as .
If a plane passes through the origin, choose an
equivalent plane, or move the origin
Take the reciprocal of the intercepts
Miller Indices
Clear fractions due to the reciprocal, but do not
reduce to lowest integer values.
Planes are written in parentheses, with bars over
the negative indices.
Ex: (hkl) or if h<0 then it becomes
(hkl )
ex: plane A is parallel to x, and intercepts y
and z at 1, and therefore is the (011). Plane
B passes through the origin, so the origin is
moved to O’, thereby making the plane the
(112)
Miller Indices