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CONTENTS
Crystal Structure
Why do you study the structure of crystalline solids?
Crystalline Solids
Non crystalline solids or Amorphous crystals
Polycrystalline Solid
Fundamental terms of crystallography
Types of crystals
Bravais Lattices
Crystal structure of material
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Crystal Structure
Crystallography deals with the study of all possible types of crystals and determination
of the actual structure of the crystalline solids by X-Ray Diffraction method, Neutron
beams or Electron beams etc.
In all the materials, the atoms or molecules or ions are arranged in three dimensional
structure.
The atomic arrangements in crystals is termed as crystal structure
The solid are classified into two categories based on the arrangement of atoms or
molecules in the solid.
Crystalline solids
Amorphous solids (Non-metallic Crystals)
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The properties of some materials are directly related to their crystal structures.
For example. Pure and undeformed magnesium and beryllium having one crystal
structure
These are much more brittle i.e. fracture at lower degrees of deformation than that of gold
and silver (having another crystal structure)
For example, non crystalline ceramics and polymers normally are optically transparent;
the same materials in crystalline (or semi crystalline) form tend to be opaque or at best
translucent
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Crystalline Solids
The solids in which the atoms are arranged in some regular manner in all three directions
of
the
physical properties are vary with directions are called anisotropic substances.
The structure may be made up of metallic crystals or non metallic crystals.
The metallic crystals are mainly used in engineering application because of their strength,
conductivity and reflection
Eg. Copper, silver, aluminium and tungsten etc.
crystalline SiO2
Si
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Oxygen
The atoms or molecules are arranged in irregular manner in all directions are called
Amorphous solids have irregular structure and have same physical properties in all
directions are called isotropic substances. Such materials have no specific electrical
property, but have only plasticity
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Polycrystalline Solid
The grains are usually 100 nm - 100 microns in diameter. Polycrystals with grains that are
<10 nm in diameter are called nanocrystalline
Polycrystal
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Polycrystalline
Pyrite form
(Grain)
said to be lattice.
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Basis
To construct the crystal structure, some basic arrangement is to be fixed at each and every
lattice point.
Crystal structure
A crystal structure is obtained by arranging the basis in each and every lattice point. It can
be written as
Crystal structure
lattice
basis
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Unit cell
Unit cell is defined as a fundamental building block of a crystal structure
Its geometry and atomic positions define the crystal structure.
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Primitives
In the crystal, the angles between x, y and z axes are called interfacial angles it is
represented by , and
Lattice parameter
To represent a unit cell, the interfacial angles and intercept in axes are important.
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Primitive cell
It is the smallest unit cell in volume constructed by primitives. It consists of only one full
atom.
If a unit cell consists of more than one atom, then it is not primitive cell
A simple cubic cell is said to be primitive cell, where as a body centered cubic unit cell is
a1
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Important Note:
Lattice points are a purely mathematical concept,
whereas atoms are physical objects.
Lattice Points do not necessarily lie at the center of atoms.
For example, the only element exhibiting Simple Cubic structure is Po (Polonium).
In Figure (a) is the 3-D periodic arrangement of Po atoms, and
Figure (b) is the corresponding space lattice.
In this case, atoms lie at the same point as the space lattice.
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Types of crystals
Crystallographers have classified crystalline substances into systems and classes
according
Monoclinic
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Bravais Lattices
In 1948,bravais showed that there are 14 Bravais lattices in three-dimensional space .
These are obtained by combining one of the seven lattice systems (or axial systems) with
one of the seven lattice types (or lattice centerings).
In general, the lattice systems can be characterized by their shapes according to the
relative lengths of the cell edges (a, b, c) and the angles between them (, , ).
The lattice types identify the locations of the lattice points in the unit cell as follows:
Primitive (P): lattice points on the cell corners only (sometimes called simple)
Body-Centered (I): lattice points on the cell corners with one additional point at the center
of the cell
Face-Centered (F): lattice points on the cell corners with one additional point at the center
of each of the faces of the cell
Base-Centered (A, B, or C): lattice points on the cell corners with one additional point at
the center of each face of one pair of parallel faces of the cell (sometimes called end-centered)
Rhombohedral (R): lattice points on the cell corners only where a = b = c and = =
90 (special case for the rhombohedral lattice system)
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= a/2
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Density of Packing
It is the ratio between the total volume occupied by the atoms or molecules in a unit cell
and the volume of unit cell. i.e.
Density of packing =
Density of packing =
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Crystal symmetry
The atom or ions in a natural crystal are arranged in a regular and periodic manner in
three dimensions.
The property, which makes the unit cells of the crystals are indistinguishable between
their original position and the new position obtained after performing any one or
more operations like rotation, reflection etc. is known as symmetry.
Three different types of symmetry
Axis symmetry
Plane symmetry
Centre of symmetry
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Axis of symmetry
A unit cell is said to possess axis of symmetry if its new position, obtained after
performing a symmetrical operation like rotation, reflection, remains invariant from
its
initial position.
In general, the unit cell of a crystal is said to posses n-fold axis of symmetry, if it
remains
invariant from initial position and the new position obtained after performing
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Plane of symmetry
The symmetrical operations, like mirror image or reflection, performed in a unit cell
by
Centre of symmetry
It is a symmetrical operation performed by taking a centre point.
If a line is drawn through the centre of a unit cell, it will pass through the centre of the
opposite faces and the line is at equidistance from the edges of the unit cell.
A unit cell has only one centre of symmetry.
The total number of symmetries present in a cubic unit cell is 23
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23
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24
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