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APF of HCP

The document provides information about the hexagonal close-packed (HCP) crystal structure: 1) It shows a sketch of one-third of an HCP unit cell and defines key points (JKLM) to describe the tetrahedron structure. 2) Using properties of triangles and relationships between points, it derives an expression for the c/a ratio of the HCP unit cell and solves for the value of 1.633. 3) It calculates the atomic packing factor (APF) for HCP as 0.74 by taking the ratio of total sphere volume to unit cell volume, where there are equivalent of six spheres per HCP unit cell.

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Bahroz Rashid
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1K views4 pages

APF of HCP

The document provides information about the hexagonal close-packed (HCP) crystal structure: 1) It shows a sketch of one-third of an HCP unit cell and defines key points (JKLM) to describe the tetrahedron structure. 2) Using properties of triangles and relationships between points, it derives an expression for the c/a ratio of the HCP unit cell and solves for the value of 1.633. 3) It calculates the atomic packing factor (APF) for HCP as 0.74 by taking the ratio of total sphere volume to unit cell volume, where there are equivalent of six spheres per HCP unit cell.

Uploaded by

Bahroz Rashid
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Source (Internet)

For the HCP crystal structure

A sketch of one third of an HCP unit cell is shown below.

c
M

L
J
K
a

Consider the tetrahedron labeled as JKLM, which is reconstructed as

L
H
J K

The atom at point M is midway between the top and bottom faces of the unit cell
that is MH = c/2. And, since atoms at points J, K, and M, all touch one another,

JM = JK = 2R = a

where R is the atomic radius. Furthermore, from triangle JHM,

1
(JM )2 = (JH )2 + (MH )2,

or

Now, we can determine the JH Length by consideration of triangle JKL, which is


an equilateral triangle,

J H
30

a/2
K

Substituting this value for JH in the above expression yields

and, solving for c/a

c 8
a = 3 = 1.633

2
Show that the atomic packing factor for HCP is 0.74.

APF is the ratio of the total sphere volume, VS, to


the unit cell volume, VC. For HCP, there are the
equivalent of six spheres per unit cell, and thus

Now, the unit cell volume is the product of the base


area times the cell height, c. The base area can be
calculated as follows. The following figure shows
an HCP unit cell and the basal plane. The base area
is equal to six times the area of the equilateral
triangle, OAB.

A a B
60°
a a
c
F C
O

E D
a

3
4

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