Petroleum Engineering Design

PTE 470

Department of Petroleum Engineering

Zisis Vryzas

Assistant Professor

2- The structure of crystalline solids

 Materials fundamentals

-Solid materials may be classified according to the

regularity with which atoms or ions are arranged with
respect to one another. A crystalline material is one in
which the atoms are situated in a repeating or periodic
array over large atomic distances.

-Some of the properties of crystalline solids depend on

the crystal structure of the material, the manner in
which atoms, ions, or molecules are spatially arranged.
 Materials fundamentals

-“lattice” means a three-dimensional array of points

coinciding with atom positions (or sphere centers).

-The atomic order in crystalline solids indicates that

small groups of atoms form a repetitive pattern. Thus,
in describing crystal structures, it is often convenient
to subdivide the structure into small repeat entities
called unit cells.
 Metallic Crystal Structures

• An alloy is a mixture of one or more elements

• Atoms form a lattice, which can be described by its unit cell: e.g. BCC
(Body-Centered Cubic), FCC (Face-Centered Cubic), HCP
(Hexagonal Close-Packed)

• Lattices form grains

• Intersection of grains form grain boundaries

• The movement of atoms and voids in the lattice, as well as grain

boundaries in relationship to one another determines the mechanical
properties of the materials

• For example: Gold has a different unit cell from Iron

 Atomic Packing Factor

• The atomic packing factor (APF) also known as packing

efficiency or packing fraction is the fraction of volume in a
crystal structure that is occupied by particles.

• The atoms are assumed by convention to be rigid and

spherical.
Body Centered Cubic Structure (BCC)
• Atoms touch each other along cube diagonals.
--Note: All atoms are identical; the center atom is shaded
differently only for ease of viewing.

examples: Cr, W, Fe (), Tantalum, Molybdenum

Adapted from Fig. 3.2,

Callister 7e.

2 atoms/unit cell: (1 center) + (8 corners x 1/8)

 Body-Centered Cubic Structure (BCC)

• Each corner atom touches the center atom. A line that is

drawn from one corner of the cube through the center and
to the other corner equals 4r in length, where r is the radius
of an atom.

• By geometry, the length of the diagonal is a√3. Therefore,

the length of each side of the BCC structure can be related
to the radius of the atom by:
 APF of BCC
• 2 atoms/unit cell: (1 center) + (8 corners x
1/8)

• Vatom= 4/3 πr3

• Vcrystal= (4r/√3)3
 Hexagonal Closed-Packed Structure (HCP)
• 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 halfhexagon of 3 atoms.
• There are two lattice parameters in HCP, a and c,
representing the basal and height parameters respectively.
Number of atoms per unit cell, n = 6.
• 3 mid-plane atoms shared by no other cells: 3 x 1 = 3
• 12 hexagonal corner atoms shared by 6 cells: 12 x 1/6 = 2
• 2 top/bottom plane center atoms shared by 2 cells: 2 x 1/2
=1
 APF of HCP
• 6 atoms/unit cell

• Vatom= 4/3 πr3

• Vunit cell= (3*√3*a2*c)/2

• C= 4(√2/3)r
Face-Centered Cubic Crystal Structure (FCC)
• Number of atoms per unit cell, n = 4.
• 6 face atoms shared by two cells: 6 x 1/2 = 3
• 8 corner atoms shared by eight cells: 8 x 1/8 = 1
Face-Centered Cubic Crystal Structure (FCC)

You have 10 min to find the APF for FCC showing all the
steps
Face-Centered Cubic Crystal Structure (FCC)
Answer
Face-Centered Cubic Crystal Structure (FCC)
Answer
Questions?