cubecentered

Cubecentered is a term used in crystallography and materials science to describe a crystal lattice in which lattice points lie at the corners of a cube and at the cube's center. It is widely known as the body-centered cubic (BCC) lattice.

In the conventional unit cell, there are two atoms per cell: the eight corner atoms contribute one atom in total, and the atom at the body center adds another, yielding two atoms per cell. Each atom has eight nearest neighbors, and the atoms touch along the body diagonal of the cube.

The lattice parameter a and the atomic radius r are related by the body diagonal: a times the square root of three equals four times the atomic radius, or a√3 = 4r, which implies a = 4r/√3. The packing efficiency of the cubecentered lattice is about 0.68, and the coordination number is eight.

Cubecentered structures occur in several metals, including alpha-iron (Fe) at room temperature, chromium, tungsten, molybdenum, niobium, and vanadium. Some elements may transition to different crystal structures at high temperatures or pressures, such as iron transforming to a face-centered cubic phase under certain conditions.

In reciprocal space, the body-centered cubic lattice has a face-centered cubic reciprocal lattice, a relationship that is important in diffraction and solid-state physics analyses.