Universitatea Transilvaania

Facultatea S.I.M
Profil I.S.I.
Grupa 3331
Structure of Engineering Materials
Proiect prezentat de :
Ghircoias Diana-Teodora&Simionescu Catalin
Profesor coordonator Antonaru C.E.
An universitar 2014-2015

Contents
1.Structure of Engineering Materials
1.1.Crystal Structure of Metals

1. Structure of Engineering Materials

As a consequence of internal factors(nature and
magnitude of interaction forces)and external factors
(temperature, pressure,nature and magnitude of fields)the
atoms can exist in one of the following states of
aggregation:solid,liquid,gas,plasma and hyper-dense
nonradiative material.
1.1. Crystal Structure of Metals
For chemist,an element can be described as metal, if
its oxide dissolved in water produces an alkaline
solution.For physicist an element is a metal if it displays
good electrical
conductivity, which decreases with increasing of
temperature.The metallurgist, being primarily concerned
with the mechanical, electrical, and magnetic properties of
materials, generally regards an element as a metal if it

contains the physicist's requirements and also can be

plastcally deformed to some extent.In fact, the metallurgist
main target is to find out how to modify these metallic
properties,controlling metal's composition and structure.
Sometimes it is convenient to point out a small group of
atoms in the stack and then describe the atoms
arrangement in this group.The group of atoms chosen for
this purpose is called the unit cell of structure.The unit cell
is the subdivision of the crystalline lattice that still retains
the overall characteristics of the entire lattice.One is at
liberty to choose one of a number of equally accurate
ways of representing the unit cell, but experience has
shown that for each structure there is one cell which is
most easily visualized and which best shows the
properties of the material.

Characteristics of the crystal systems

Axes length
Structure

Angles
between axes

Examples

a=b=c

===/2

Cu;Ag;Au;Fe;N
aCl

Tetragonal

a=b#c

===/2

Sn;TiO2

Orthorhombic

a#b#c

===/2

S;Ga;Fe3C

Hexagonal

a=b#c

==/2
=2/3

Zn;Cd;NiAs

Rhombohedral

a=b=c

==#/2

As;SB;B;calcite

Monoclinic

a#b#c

=/2#

S;CaSO4;2H
2O

Triclinic

a#b#c

###/2

Cr2O7K2

Cubic

The majority of the known metals crystallize in one of the

following systems:
Body-Centered Cubic (BCC)
Face-Centered Cubic (FCC)
Hexagonal Close-Packed (HCP)
Most of the important metals, including iron , chromium
andtungsten, present the BCC structure (Fig.1.2). They
have a hightensile strength and a moderate plasticity.The
unit cell of BCC structure contains two atoms.

The face-centered cubic (FCC) structure (Fig.1.3) is

proper to Cu;Ag;Au;Al;Pb;Ni;Fe,which have great ductility
and malleability.The unit cell of FCC structure contains
four atoms.

The hexagonal close-packet (HCP) structure (Fig.1.4)

gives a reduced
plasticity.Be,
Mg; Zn;Cd; Ti
are examples.

An important characteristic of a metal is its lattice

parameters, the dimensions of its unit cell.For metals
having cubic symmetry the size of the lattice is fixed when
the length of the edge of the cubic unit cell is given.Cubic
metals have therefore only one lattice parameter.The
lattice parameter of a metal can be measured by
observing the diffraction of x-ray beam passing through the
metal.
Allotropic transformations occur because in certain
temperature ranges one structure is more stable than the
others.It is found that the energy differences between the
different structures of a metal that undergoes allotropic
transformation are very small.Thus small changes in
atomic forces can change the structure of a metal from
one type of crystal to another.

Information was taken from the book:

Materials Science
written by Mircea Tierean
Lucian Eftimie
Liana Baltes