Miller indices are one of the most non-intuitive concepts most people encounter in an introductory course. And, since a few notation differences can completely change the meaning, advanced students...

An important concept in crystallography is the idea of “interstitial sites,” which may also be called interstitial voids. They allow interstitial defects to occur. These sites exist in the spaces...

In many materials science classes, students will not distinguish between crystal structure and crystal lattice (more properly called “Bravais” lattice). To them, FCC just means “face-centered...

The Close-Packed Rhombohedral (abbreviated CPR in this article) is more commonly known as the Samarium-type crystal, because Sm is the first element to display this crystal structure. Technically,...

The Double Hexagonal Close-Packed (DHCP) crystal structure is another close-packed, hexagonal crystal structure; however, this is not a very common crystal structure, so I’m assuming if you’re...

The triclinic Bravais lattice is the most general Bravais lattice, with no symmetry requirements. For this reason, it is sometimes called the “asymmetric” lattice or crystal structure. Triclinic...