Abstract
THE three principal crystal structures of the metallic elements, the face-centred cubic (f.c.c), the body-centred cubic (b.c.c.) and the hexagonal close-packed (h.c.p.), follow a cyclic pattern as sub-shells are filled with electrons. The preferred structure changes from f.c.c. to h.c.p. to b.c.c. for the half-filled sub-shell. As the sub-shell continues to fill, the trend is reversed.
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CORNISH, A. Cyclic Pattern of Metallic Crystal Structures. Nature 211, 512 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1038/211512a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/211512a0
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