EQUILIBRIUM FORMS OF VERY SMALL METALLIC CRYSTALS

The surface energy of very small metallic crystals of the fcc, bcc and hcp (A1, A2, A3) structures has been calculated, representing them as polyhedra constructed of a small number of atoms. The nearest neighbour interactions only have been taken into account, according to the concept of localised metallic bond. The forms with minimum surface energy are: the cubooctahedron for fcc structure, the rhombic dodecahedron and the truncated hexagonal bipyramid for bcc and hcp structure respectively. So derived equilibrium forms are bounded by faces, defined as equilibrium faces by Stranski and Kaischew and found experimentally on crystals of larger size. © 1969.