There are lots of classifications of materials that are used in manufacturing and one of these classifications can be done according to their crystal structures. Crystalline and non-crystalline structured materials. In this article, we explain what is crystalline structure in manufacturing materials, and what are the features of these crystalline structured materials.
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What Is Crystalline Structured Material?
When it said ‘crystal’, the crystallite materials such as salt, diamond, and these kinds of materials appear in people’s minds. But even metals can have crystalline structures. Crystalline structure means that the atoms of a material are aligned regularly inside the structure. This alignment can have various kinds of types, for example, metals. These alignments can be observed from unit cells. These unit cells represent the minimum indication of crystalline alignment in a material.
For example in metals, this unit cel lattice structures have three types;
- BCC: Body-centred cubic crystalline lattice type.
- FCC: Face-centred cubic crystalline lattice type.
- HCP: Hexagonal-close-packed crystalline lattice type.
Each of these types represents different materials properties for a metal. A metal type can have different crystalline structures in different temperatures such as Iron, which is BCC at room temperature; it changes to FCC above 912 degrees celsius and back to BCC at temperatures above1400 degrees celsius.
Perfect crystalline structures can be very desirable in engineering applications. For example, the price of a diamond depends on the perfectness of the crystalline structure of this diamond. Also, defects can occur in crystalline structures as grain boundaries. Crystalline structures occur inside grain boundaries inside a material. The density of these grain boundaries means much more defects in the crystalline structure.
Conclusion
The general logic of crystalline structure of materials is like about.
If you have any questions and comments about this topic, leave them below!
Image courtesy: Fundamentals of modern manufacturing
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