Crystal Structure^[1]

This article describes crystallographic terms and concepts and illustrates various crystal structures. The crystallographic terms described include crystal structure, unit cell, crystal system, lattice, structure symbols, space-group notation, structure prototype, atom positions, point groups, and equivalent positions. The article presents a table of assorted structure types of metallurgical interest arranged according to the Pearson symbol. It also schematically illustrates atom positions, prototypes, structure symbols, space-group notations, and lattice parameters for some of the simple metallic crystals. The article concludes with a description of some of the most significant crystal defects such as point defects, line defects, and stacking faults.