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Which metals have a body-centred cubic crystal structure?
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materials science
Movement of an electron hole in a crystal lattice.
In materials science, the body-centred cubic (bcc) crystal structure is a common lattice arrangement where atoms are positioned at the corners of a cube with an additional atom located at the center of the cube. This structure occupies approximately 68 percent of the unit cell volume.12
Several metals exhibit the bcc structure, though some do so only at specific temperature ranges due to allotropy. Notable examples include:13
- Alpha iron (at room temperature) and delta iron (at high temperatures)13
- Tungsten1
- Chromium1
- Beta titanium1
- Europium (which remains bcc from absolute zero to its melting point)4
Additionally, many other metals, such as scandium, yttrium, and various lanthanides, possess a high-temperature bcc polymorph. Because some elements can exist in multiple crystal forms depending on thermal conditions, the total number of metals exhibiting a bcc arrangement at some point is significant.412