MAT E 202 Assigned: Feb 2, 2018

Winter 2018 Assignment #3 Due: Feb 14, 2018

Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering

When in doubt, state your assumptions when answering a question.

1. Consider the force-distance and energy-distance curves for atomic bonding.

a. Draw the energy-distance curve for a covalent bond. (5 marks; 1 each)

Label the:
i. Axes
ii. Attractive energy (EA), repulsive energy (ER), and net energy (EN)
iii. Equilibrium separation distance, r0
iv. Binding energy (E0)
v. Represent bond stiffness (S0) together with mathematical representation

b. Directly beneath the energy-distance curve, draw the force-distance curve for
the same bond type as in part (a) (5 marks; 1 each)
Label the:
i. Axes
ii. Attractive force (FA), repulsive force (FR), and net force (FN)
iii. Equilibrium separation distance, r0
iv. Maximum bond length before bond breaks (rmax) and theoretical bond
strength, F0
v. Represent bond stiffness (S0) together with mathematical representation

c. Imagine two hypothetical materials (A and B) with the same molar mass,
crystal structure, and mass density. Draw the energy-distance curves of both
materials in the same graph and label to reflect only the conditions described
below. (6 marks; 2 each)
i. Materials having different bond energy, label the material with higher
binding energy (A) and the lower (B), providing reasoning.
ii. Materials having different Young’s modulus/stiffness, label the material
with higher Young’s modulus/stiffness (A) and the lower (B), providing
reasoning.
iii. Materials having different thermal expansion coefficient (α), label the
material with higher thermal expansion coefficient (A) and the lower (B),
providing reasoning.

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MAT E 202 Assigned: Feb 2, 2018
Winter 2018 Assignment #3 Due: Feb 14, 2018
2. Imagine you have two solids made from the same material (atom type); one solid is
crystalline and another is amorphous. State which, and why, of the particular solids
(crystal or amorphous) would have: (8 marks; 2 each)
(i) Longer range order (ii) Higher mass density
(iii) Lower modulus of elasticity (iv) Lower melting point

3. (a) Calculate the Atomic Packing Factor (APF) of the unit cell in: (9 marks; 3 each)
(i) Simple Cubic (SC)
(ii) Body Centered Cubic (BCC)
(iii) Face Centered Cubic (FCC)

(b) Can you increase the APF of the above crystal structure by changing the atomic
radius? Why or why not? (4 marks)

(c) A group of atoms associated with each lattice point is called basis or motif, i.e. the
repeating pattern. Give the number of atoms per unit cell of the FCC and represent the
atomic positions of the basis comprising the unit cell. Use simple cubic (SC) lattice to
determine basis positions of the FCC. For example, in the case of BCC, answer should be
in the form of “a BCC crystal can be formed by putting a basis to the SC crystal. The
basis can be consisted of a 2-atom pair at 0,0,0 and 1/2, 1/2, 1/2”. (6 marks; 3 each)

4. (a) What are the Miller indices of the planes shown in the following unit cells? Numbers
shown in the figure represent intercepts of the plane in terms of lattice parameters. (12 marks; 2
each)

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MAT E 202 Assigned: Feb 2, 2018
Winter 2018 Assignment #3 Due: Feb 14, 2018
(b) Determine the Miller indices for the directions shown in the following cubic unit cell.
Numbers shown in the figure represent projection of the vector on the x-axis. (14 marks; 2
each)

(c) Niobium (Nb) has an atomic radius of 0.1430 nm, atomic mass of 92.91 g/mol and a
density of 8.57 g/cm3. Determine whether it has an FCC or a BCC crystal structure.
(5 marks)

5. List the point coordinates for all atoms that are associated with the FCC unit cell. (14 marks;
1 each)

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MAT E 202 Assigned: Feb 2, 2018
Winter 2018 Assignment #3 Due: Feb 14, 2018

6. Sketch (100), (110), and (111) planes for the SC, BCC, and FCC unit cells below, and
calculate PPF and LPF (along the sides of the planes) in all drawings. (36 marks; 12 each)