BCC structure

Atomic packing factor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In crystallography, atomic packing factor (APF) or packing fraction is the fraction of volume in a crystal
structure that is occupied y atoms! It is dimensionless and al"ays less than unity! For practical purposes, the
APF of a crystal structure is determined y assuming that atoms are rigid spheres! #he radius of the spheres is
taken to e the ma$imal value such that the atoms do not overlap! For one%component crystals (those that
contain only one type of atom), the APF is represented mathematically y
"here N
atoms
is the numer of atoms in the unit cell, V
atom
is the volume of an atom, and V
unit cell
is the
volume occupied y the unit cell! It can e proven mathematically that for one%component structures, the most
dense arrangement of atoms has an APF of aout &!'(! In reality, this numer can e higher due to specific
intermolecular factors! For multiple%component structures, the APF can e$ceed &!'(!
Contents
) Worked out e$ample
)!) Body%centered cuic crystal structure
)!* +e$agonal close%packed crystal structure
* APF of common structures
, -ee also
( .eferences
Worked out example
Body-centered cubic crystal structure
#he primitive unit cell for the ody%centered cuic (BCC) crystal
structure contains several fractions taken from nine atoms/ one on
each corner of the cue and one atom in the center! Because the
volume of each corner atom is shared et"een ad0acent cells, each
BCC cell contains t"o atoms!
1ach corner atom touches the center atom! A line that is dra"n from
one corner of the cue through the center and to the other corner
passes through (r, "here r is the radius of an atom! By geometry, the
length of the diagonal is a2,! #herefore, the length of each side of the
BCC structure can e related to the radius of the atom y
3no"ing this and the formula for the volume of a sphere( pi r
,
), it ecomes possile to calculate the APF
+CP structure
as follo"s/
Hexagonal close-packed crystal structure
For the he$agonal close%packed (+CP) structure the derivation is
similar! #he side length of the he$agon "ill e denoted as a "hile the
height of the he$agon "ill e denoted as c! #hen/
It is then possile to calculate the APF as follo"s/
APF of common structures
By similar procedures, the ideal atomic packing factors of all crystal structures can e found! #he common ones
are collected here as reference, rounded to the nearest hundredth!
-imple cuic/ &!4*
Body%centered cuic/ &!56
+e$agonal close%packed/ &!'(
Face%centered cuic/ &!'(
7iamond cuic/ &!,(
See also
Crystal
References
)! -chaffer, -a$ena, Antolovich, -anders, and Warner ()888)! The Science and Design of Engineering
Materials (-econd 1dition ed!)! 9e" :ork/ WCB;<c=ra"%+ill! pp! 6)>66!
*! Callister, W! (*&&*)! Materials Science and Engineering (-i$th 1dition ed!)! -an Francisco/ ?ohn
Wiley and -ons! pp! )&4>))(!
.etrieved from @http/;;en!"ikipedia!org;";inde$!phpAtitleBAtomicCpackingCfactorDoldidB4&,'8'*8,@
Categories/ Crystallography
#his page "as last modified on *, ?uly *&)* at )'/&,!
#e$t is availale under the Creative Commons Attriution%-hareAlike EicenseF additional terms may
apply! -ee #erms of use for details!
WikipediaG is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc!, a non%profit organiHation!