CRYSTALLOGRAPHY
CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION TO CRYSTAL PHYSICS
• CRYSTALLINE AND NONCRYSTALLINE SOLIDS
• SPACE LATTICE
• CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
• LATTICE PARAMETERS
• CRYSTAL SYSTEMS
• BRAVAIS LATTICES
INTRODUCTION TO CRYSTAL PHYSICS
• Matter exists in three states viz. solids, liquids
and
gases.
• All these states are composed of atoms and
molecules.
• When we focus the solids, they are classified into
many types based on several properties like
electrical, mechanical, magnetic, optical,
thermal
etc.,.
• The main reason for these different properties of
solids is their crystal structure.
INTRODUCTION TO CRYSTAL PHYSICS
What is Crystal Physics?
‘Crystal Physics’ or ‘Crystallography’ is a branch
of physics
that deals with the study of all possible types of
crystals
and the physical properties of crystalline solids by
the
determination of their actual structure by using X-
rays,
neutron beams and electron beams.
CLASSIFICATION OF SOLIDS
Solids can broadly be classified into two types
based on the
arrangement of units of matter.
The units of matter may be atoms, molecules or
ions.
They are,
• Crystalline solids and
• Non-crystalline (or) Amorphous
solids
CRYSTALLINE SOLIDS
• A substance is said to be crystalline when the
arrangement of units of matter is regular and
periodic.
• A crystalline material has directional properties
and
therefore called as anisotropic substance.
• A crystal has a sharp melting point.
• It possesses a regular shape and if it is broken, all
broken pieces have the same regular shape.
CRYSTALLINE SOLIDS
• A crystalline material can either be a single
(mono) crystal or a polycrystal.
• A single crystal consists of only one crystal,
whereas the polycrystalline material consists of
many crystals separated by well-defined
boundaries.
Examples
Metallic crystals – Cu, Ag, Al, Mg etc,
Non-metallic crystals – Carbon,Silicon,Germanium,
NON CRYSTALLINE SOLIDS
• In these, the constituent particles
are not arranged in an orderly manner.
They
are randomly distributed.
• They do not have directional properties and
so
they are called as `isotropic’ substances.
• They have wide range of melting point and
do
not possess a regular shape.
Examples:
EXAMPLES OF CRYSTALLINE AND AMORPHOUS
ATOMIC ARRANGEMENT IN CRYSTALS
(a) mono (or) single
crystals
(b) polycrystalline solids
(c) amorphous solids
CRYSTALS
• It is a substance in which the constituent particles
are
arranged in a systematic geometrical pattern.
SPACE LATTICE
A lattice is a regular and
periodic
arrangement of points in
three dimension.
It is defined as an infinite
array of points in three
dimension in which every
point has surroundings
identical to that of every other
point in the array.
The Space lattice is also called
as Crystal lattice
SPACE LATTICE
• Consider the points P, Q and
R.
• Let us join the points P and
Q by a straight line,
and the point P and R by
another straight line.
• The line PQ is taken as X-
axis and the line PR is
taken as Y-axis.
• The distance between any
two successive lattice
points in the X-direction is
taken as `a’.
SPACE LATTICE
Similarly, the distance between any two
successive lattice points along the Y-
direction
is taken as `b’.
Here a and b are said to be lattice
translational
vectors. Consider a square lattice in
which a=b.
Consider two sets of points A, B, C,
D, E, F and A′, B′, C′, D′, E′, F′.
In these two sets, the
surrounding environment
looks symmetrical; i.e. the
distances AB and A′B′,
AC and A′C′, AD and A′D′, AE
and A′E′ and AF and A′F′ are
equal.
Therefore, in the arrangement of
points, if the surrounding
environment looks the same
when the arrangement is
viewed from different lattice
points,
then that arrangement is said to
be a space lattice.
BASIS
• A crystal structure is formed by associating every
lattice point with an unit assembly of identical
atoms or
molecules
• This unit assembly is called the `basis’.
• When the basis is repeated with correct periodicity
in
all directions, it gives the actual crystal structure.
• The crystal structure is real, while the lattice is
imaginary.
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
= +
Crystal structure = Lattice +
Basis
UNIT CELL
• A unit cell is defined as a fundamental building
block
of a crystal structure, which can generate the
complete crystal by repeating its own dimensions
in
various directions.
CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC AXES
Consider a unit cell consisting of
three mutually perpendicular
edges OA, OB and OC
Draw parallel lines along the
three edges. Y
B
These lines are taken as
crystallographic axes and they
are denoted as X, Y and Z axes.
O A X
C
Z
LATTICE PARAMETERS
Consider the unit cell as shown in
figure.
Let OA, OB and OC are the intercepts
made by the unit cell along X, Y and Z
axes respectively.
These intercepts are known as Y
B
primitives. In
crystallography the intercepts OA,
OB and OC are represented as a , b
and c . C
O A X
Z
LATTICE PARAMETERS
The angle between X and Y axes is
represented as γ.
Similarly the angles between Y and Z and Z
and X axes are denoted by ′α′ and ′β′
respectively
. These angles α, β and γ are called as
interaxial angles or interfacial angles.
To represent a lattice, the three interfacial
angles and their corresponding intercepts
are essential. These six parameters are Y
said to be lattice parameters. B
O A X
C
Z
PRIMITIVE CELL
It is the smallest unit cell in volume
constructed by primitives. It consists
of only one full atom
A primitive cell is one, which has got
the points or atoms only at the
corners of the unit cell.
If a unit cell consists of more than
one atom, then it is not a primitive cell.
Example for primitive cell :Simple
Cubic unit cell.
Examples for non-primitive cell:BCC
and FCC unit cell.
The space lattices formed by unit cells are marked
by the following symbols.
Primitive lattice:P → having lattice points only at
the
corners of the unit cell.
Body centred lattice:I → having lattice points at
the corners as well as at the body centre of the
unit
Face centred lattice:F → having lattice points at the
cell.
corners as well as at the face centres of the unit
cell.
Base centred lattice:C → having lattice points at the
corners as well as at the top and bottom base
centres of the unit cell.
Base- centred Orthorhombic
Simple Cubic
Body centred Face Centred Cubic
Orthorhombic
CRYSTALS SYSTEMS
A three dimensional space
lattice is generated by repeated
translation of three translational
vectors a, b and c.
Crystals are grouped under
seven systems on the basis of
the shape of the unit cell.
The seven crystal systems are The seven systems are,
distinguished from one another
by their lattice parameters . • Cubic (isometric)
• Tetragonal
• Orthorhombic
• Trigonal
(rhombohedral)
• Hexagonal
• Monoclinic and
BRAVAIS LATTICES
• Bravais in 1948 showed that 14 types of unit cells
under seven crystal systems are possible. They
are commonly called as `Bravais lattices’.
14 TYPES OF UNIT CELLS
