Closest cubic

The symbols Al, A2, and A3 represent the three simple metal structures cubic closest packed, body centered, and hexagonal closest packed, respectively. 

Alloys of lead and thallium have a structure based upon cubic closest packing from 0 to about 87-5 atomic percent thallium. The variation of the lattice constant with composition gives strong indication that ordered structures PbTl, and PbTl, exist. In the intermediate ranges, solid solutions of the types Pb(Pb,Tl)a and Pb(Pb,Tl)TlB exist. Interpretation of interatomic distances indicates that thallium atoms present in low concentration in lead assume the same valence as lead, about 2-14, and that the valence of thallium increases with increase in the mole fraction of thallium present, having the same value, about 2-50, in PbTls and PbTl, as in pure thallium. A theory of the structure of the alloys is presented which explains the observed phase diagram,... 

Tc or c cubic closest-packing of spheres Th or h hexagonal closest-packing of spheres Ts stacking sequence AA... of hexagonal layers Qs stacking sequence AA... of square layers... 

The structure of iodine at four different pressures. The outlined face-centered unit cell in the 30-Gpa figure corresponds to that of a (distorted) cubic closest-packing of spheres. At 24.6 GPa four unit cells of the face-centered approximant structure are shown the structure is incommensurately modulated, the atomic positions follow a sine wave with a wave length of 3.89 x c. The amplitude of the wave is exaggerated by a factor of two. Lower left Dependence of the twelve interatomic contact distances on pressure... 

In crystalline C60 the molecules have a face-centered cubic arrangement, i.e. they are packed as in a cubic closest-packing of spheres as they are nearly spherical, the molecules spin in the crystal. The crystals are as soft as graphite. Similar to the intercalation com-... 

In a-B12 the icosahedra are arranged as in a cubic closest-packing of spheres (Fig. 11.16). In one layer of icosahedra every icosahedron is surrounded by six other icosahedra that are linked by three-center two-electron bonds. Every boron atom involved contributes an average of electrons to these bonds, which amounts to -6 = 4 electrons per icosahedron. Every icosahedron is surrounded additionally by six icosahedra of the two adjacent layers, to which it is bonded by normal B-B bonds this requires 6 electrons per icosahedron. In total, this adds up exactly to the above-mentioned 10 electrons for the inter-icosahedron bonds. 

Germanium forms the same kinds of modifications as silicon at similar conditions (Fig. 12.4). Tin, however, does not exhibit this diversity )3-tin transforms to a body-centered cubic packing of spheres at 45 GPa. Lead already adopts a cubic closest-packing of spheres at ambient pressure. 

Unit cells for hexagonal (left) and cubic closest-packing of spheres. Top row projections in the stacking direction. 

The space filling in the body-centered cubic packing of spheres is less than in the closest packings, but the difference is moderate. The fraction of space filled amounts to ns/3 = 0.6802 or 68.02 %. The reduction of the coordination number from 12 to 8 seems to be more serious however, the difference is actually not so serious because in addition to the 8 directly adjacent spheres every sphere has 6 further neighbors that are only 15.5 % more distant (Fig. 14.3). The coordination number can be designated by 8 + 6. 

Table 14.2 The element structures of the metals at ambient conditions h = hexagonal closest-packing c = cubic closest-packing...

Two metals that are chemically related and that have atoms of nearly the same size form disordered alloys with each other. Silver and gold, both crystallizing with cubic closest-packing, have atoms of nearly equal size (radii 144.4 and 144.2 pm). They form solid solutions (mixed crystals) of arbitrary composition in which the silver and the gold atoms randomly occupy the positions of the sphere packing. Related metals, especially from the same group of the periodic table, generally form solid solutions which have any composition if their atomic radii do not differ by more than approximately 15% for example Mo +W, K + Rb, K + Cs, but not Na + Cs. If the elements are less similar, there may be a limited miscibility as in the case of, for example, Zn in Cu (amount-of-substance fraction of Zn maximally 38.4%) and Cu in Zn (maximally 2.3% Cu) copper and zinc additionally form intermetallic compounds (cf. Section 15.4). 

The CsCl type offers the simplest way to combine atoms of two different elements in the same arrangement as in body-centered cubic packing the atom in the center of the unit cell is surrounded by eight atoms of the other element in the vertices of the unit cell. In this way each atom only has adjacent atoms of the other element. This is a condition that cannot be fulfilled in a closest-packing of spheres (cf. preceding section). 

Although the space filling of the body-centered cubic sphere packing is somewhat inferior to that of a closest-packing, the CsCl type thus turns out to be excellently suited for compounds with a 1 1 composition. Due to the occupation of the positions 0,0,0 and with different kinds of atoms, the structure is not... 

A1C13 type cubic closest-packing of X atoms... 

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