MATLS 1M03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Linear Density, Miller Index, Grain Boundary

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Materials Science and Engineering
• Course: MATLS 1M03
• Professor: Kathryn Grandfield

Document Summary

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 which the atoms are situated in a repeating or periodic array over large atomic distances that is, long range order exists, such that upon solidification. Atoms will position themselves in a repetitive three dimensional pattern, in which each atom is bonded to its nearest neighbor atom. For those that do no crystallize, this long range atomic order is absent; these non-crystalline or amorphous materials. When crystalline structures are described, atoms or ions are thought of as being solid spheres having well defined diameters, this is termed the atomic hard sphere model in which spheres representing nearest neighbor atoms touch one another. Sometimes the term lattice is used in the context of crystal structures; n this sense lattice means a three dimensional array of points coinciding with atom positions ( or sphere centers )