Compiled by A/P Sridhar Idapalapati

Reference: Introduction to Materials Science, by William D Callister.

1. Which of the following materials may form crystalline solids?

A. Polymers
B. Metals
C. Ceramics
D. All of the above
E. None of the above

Under normal solidification conditions, all three of these material types may
form crystalline solids; these include all metals, many ceramics, and some
polymers (which will be semicrystalline).

2. The drawing below represents the unit cell for which crystal structure?

A. Simple cubic
B. Face-centered cubic
C. Body-centered cubic
D. Hexagonal close-packed

Since there is one atom situated at each of the eight corners of the cube as well
as one atom at the center of each of the cube faces, this is the unit cell for the
face-centered cubic crystal structure.

3. Which crystal system(s) listed below has (have) the following relationship for
the unit cell edge lengths?

a=b≠c

1
 A. Cubic
B. Hexagonal
C. Triclinic
D. Monoclinic
E. Rhombohedral
F. Orthorhombic
G. Tetragonal
H. Both C and E
I. Both B and G

For both hexagonal and tetragonal crystal systems, two of the unit cell edge
lengths are equal to one another, but unequal to the third edge length.

4. Which crystal system(s) listed below has (have) the following interaxial angle
relationship?

α = β = γ = 90°

A. Cubic
B. Tetragonal
C. Hexagonal
D. Triclinic
E. Orthorhombic
F. Both A and D
G. A, B, and E

Cubic, tetragonal, and orthorhombic crystal systems have the three interaxial
angles equal to 90°C.

5. If the atomic radius of a metal that has the face-centered cubic crystal structure is
0.137 nm, calculate the volume of its unit cell (in nm^3).

YOUR ANSWER:

The suggested answer is

2
 0.0582 nm^3

The unit cell for the face-centered cubic crystal structure is

Since the atoms touch each other along the face diagonal, the length of this diagonal
is four times the atomic radius. Hence, the edge length, a, may be determined as
follows:

or

Thus, the volume of the cubic unit cell may be calculated as follows:

6. For a metal that has the body-centered cubic crystal structure, calculate the atomic
radius (in nm) if the metal has a density of 7.25 g/cm3 and an atomic weight of 50.99
g/mol.

YOUR ANSWER:

The suggested answer is

3
 0.124 nm

The density of a metal may be calculated using the following equation:

Now, for the body-centered cubic crystal structure there are two atoms associated
with each unit cell (i.e., n = 2), and the atomic radius and unit cell edge length are
related as

Since the unit cell for the body-centered cubic crystal structure has cubic symmetry,
VC = a3. Substitution of the last two relationships into the first equation leads to

and solving for R yields

= 1.24 x 10-8 cm = 0.124 nm

7. For the face-centered cubic crystal structure:

(a) How many atoms are associated with each unit cell?

4
(b) What is the coordination number?
(c) What is the atomic packing factor?

YOUR ANSWER: 12

The suggested answer is

(a) 4
(b) 12
(c) 0.740

For the face-centered cubic crystal structure, atoms are positioned at each of the
eight cube corners, as well as at the center of each of the unit cell faces. Its unit cell
is as follows:

(a) There are eight corner atoms, and one-eighth of each of these is assigned to the
unit cell (for the equivalence of 1 atom); also, there is one atom at each of the six
faces, one-half of which is assigned to the unit cell (for the equivalence of 3 atoms).
Therefore, there are four atoms per unit cell.

(b) An atom has four atoms neighboring atoms in the same horizontal plane, four
nearest-neighbor atoms above it, and four nearest-neighbor atoms below it;
therefore, the coordination number is 12.

(c) Since the unit cell edge length and the atomic radius are related as

the atomic packing factor is calculated as follows:

5
8 A hypothetical metal has an orthorhombic unit cell for which the a, b, and c lattice
. parameters are 0.413 nm, 0.665 nm, and 0.876 nm, respectively.
(a) If there are 8 atoms per unit cell and the atomic packing factor is 0.536, determine
the atomic radius (in nm).
(b) If the density is 3.99 g/cm3, calculate the metal's atomic weight (in g/ mol).

YOUR ANSWER:

The suggested answer is

(a) 0.157 nm
(b) 72.27 g/mol

(a) The atomic packing factor, APF, is defined as:

For an orthorhombic unit cell, the unit cell volume is equal to the product of the unit
cell edge lengths as

The total sphere volume is equal to the volume per sphere times the number of atoms
per unit cell (i.e., 8) as

Substitution of the above expressions into the APF equation yields

And solving for the atomic radius leads to the following:

6
 = 0.157 nm

(b) It is possible to solve for the atomic weight by rearrangement of the equation that
expresses the density as a function of the number of atoms per unit cell, the atomic
weight and the unit cell volume; that is

Incorporation of values for a, b, c, n, and ρ provided in the problem statement, we

have

= 72.27 g/mol

9. What are the indices for the direction represented by the vector that has been drawn
within a unit cell?
Indicate a negative index with a "-" in front of the index number. Otherwise, express
the direction using the conventional notation.

YOUR ANSWER:

The suggested answer is

[120]

7
 The vector projections on the x- and y-axes are a/2 and b, respectively, while the
projection on the z-axis is zero (since the vector lies in the x-y plane). This is a [120]
direction as indicated in the summary below.

x y z
Projections a/2 b 0c
Projections in terms of a, 1/2 1 0
b, and c
Reduction to integers 1 2 0
Enclosure [120]

10. What are the indices for the direction represented by the vector that has been drawn
within a unit cell?
Indicate a negative index with a "-" in front of the index number. Otherwise,
express the direction using the conventional notation.

YOUR ANSWER:

The suggested answer is

[𝟎 𝟏 𝟏 ]

The vector projection on the x-axis is zero (since the vector lies in the y-z plane),
while projections on the y- and z-axes are -b, and c, respectively. This is a [0-11]
direction as indicated in the summary below.

x y z
Projections 0a -b c
Projections in terms of a, 0 -1 1
b, and c
Enclosure [𝟎 𝟏 𝟏 ]

11. What are the indices for the direction represented by the vector that has been drawn
within a unit cell?

8
 Indicate a negative index with a "-" in front of the index number. Otherwise,
express the direction using the conventional notation.

YOUR ANSWER:

The suggested answer is

[𝟏 𝟒 𝟑 ]

The origin of the coordinate system must be repositioned so that the tail of the
direction vector is situated at its origin. In terms of this new coordinate system, the
vector projections on the x-, y-, and z-axes are -a/6, -2b/3, and c/2, respectively.
This is a [-1-43] direction as indicated in the summary below.

x y z
Projections -a/6 -2b/3 c/2
Projections in terms of a, -1/6 -2/3 1/2
b, and c
Reduction to integers -1 -4 3
Enclosure [𝟏 𝟒 𝟑 ]

12. What are the Miller indices for the plane shown below? Indicate a negative index
with a "-" in front of the index number. Otherwise, express the plane using the
conventional notation.

9
 The suggested answer is (110)

The intercepts of the plane with the x-, y-, and z-axes are a, b, and ∞c, respectively.
This is a (110) plane as indicated by the summary below.

x y z
Intercepts a b ∞c
Intercepts in terms of a, b, and 1 1 ∞
c
Reciprocals of intercepts 1 1 0
Enclosure (110)

13. What are the Miller indices for the plane shown below? Indicate a negative index
with a "-" in front of the index number. Otherwise, express the plane using the
conventional notation.

The suggested answer is ( 4 0 𝟑 )

The intercepts of the plane (extended) with the x-, y-, and z-axes are a/2, and -
2c/3, respectively. This is a (40-3) plane as indicated in the summary below.
x y z
Intercepts a/2 ∞b -2c/3

10
 Intercepts in terms of a, b, and 1/2 ∞ -2/3
c
Reciprocals of intercepts 2 0 -3/2
Reduction to integers 4 0 -3
Enclosure (40𝟑)
14. What are the Miller indices for the plane shown below? Indicate a negative index with
a "-" in front of the index number. Otherwise, express the plane using the conventional
notation.

The suggested answer is ( 2 𝟐 𝟑 )

Since the plane passes through the origin, the origin must be translated, in this case,
one unit cell distance to the right along the y axis. The intercepts of this plane relative
to the new x-, y-, and z-axes are a, -b, and 2c/3, respectively. This is a (2-23) plane as
indicated in the summary below:

x y z
Intercepts a −b 2c/3
Intercepts in terms of a,
b, and c 1 -1 2/3
Reciprocals of intercepts 1 -1 3/2
Reduction to integers 2 -2 3
Enclosure (2𝟐𝟑)

15. For the direction represented by the vector drawn within the hexagonal unit cell
below, specify its indices (using the 3-index scheme, referenced to a1, a2, and z
axes). Indicate a negative index with a "-" in front of the index number. Otherwise,
express the direction using the conventional notation.

11
 The suggested answer is [221]

The projections on the a1-, a2-, and z-axes are a, a, and c/2, respectively. This is a
[221] direction as indicated in the summary below.

a1 a2 z
Projections a a c/2
Projections in terms of 1 1 1/2
a and c
Reduction to integers 2 2 1
Enclosure [221]

16 What are the Miller-Bravais indices for the plane shown below? Indicate a negative
. index with a "-" in front of the index number. Otherwise, express the plane using
the appropriate notation.

YOUR ANSWER:

The suggested answer is

(𝟏 𝟎 𝟏 𝟎)

12
 The intercepts of this plane relative to the a1-, a2-, a3-, and z-axes are −a, ∞a, a,
and ∞c, respectively. This is a (-1010) plane as indicated in the summary below.

a1 a2 a3 z
Intercepts −a ∞a a ∞c
Intercepts in terms of a and −1 ∞ 1 ∞
c
Reciprocals of intercepts -1 0 1 0
Reduction to integers
Enclosure (𝟏 𝟎 𝟏 𝟎)

17. For the body-centered cubic crystal structure, in terms of the atomic radius, R,
determine the distance between the centers of nearest-neighbor atoms.

The suggested answer is

2R

A unit cell for the body-centered cubic crystal structure is shown below.

Since corner atoms touch the central atom along unit cell diagonals, the central
atom is a nearest neighbor to the corner atoms; therefore, the distance between
nearest-neighbor atoms is 2R.

18. Below is shown the atomic packing of a set of planes for the simple cubic crystal
structure; atoms drawn to full size are represented by circles. From the list below
select the set of indices for this plane.

A. (120)
B. (100)
C. (111)

13
 D. (110)

The atomic packing shown is for a (100) type plane. Below is presented a (100)
plane that passes through a simple cubic reduced sphere unit cell, and which yields
the packing arrangement indicated in the problem statement.

19. In terms of the atomic radius, R, determine the distance between the centers of
adjacent atoms for the FCC crystal structure along the [100] direction.

YOUR ANSWER:

The suggested answer is

2*R*sqrt(2)

The [100] direction within an FCC unit cell is shown below.

14
Thus, the distance between the centers of adjacent atoms in this [100] direction is
simply the edge length of the face-centered cubic unit cell, which, in terms of the
atomic radius R is just

15