What is a single crystal?

A single crystal is a regular and periodic arrangement of particles inside a crystal in three-dimensional space. The entire lattice of single crystals is continuous, and single crystals have important industrial applications. Ideal single crystals of a certain size are extremely rare in nature and difficult to produce in the laboratory due to entropy effects that lead to non-idealities in the solid microstructure, such as impurities, inhomogeneous strain, and crystal defects. Common single crystals contain aluminum oxide, niobium, and palladium.

alfachemistry36 ∙

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∙ 2y ago