Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T19:39:25.141Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - Metallic Bonding

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2011

Gregory S. Rohrer
Affiliation:
Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania
Get access

Summary

Introduction

When free atoms condense to form a solid, cohesion arises from a change in the occupation and/or distribution of electronic energy levels. In the ionic bonding model, valence electrons move from atomic orbitals on metallic atoms to atomic orbitals on relatively electronegative atoms. Electrostatic cohesion, therefore, results from a change in the occupation of previously existing electronic energy levels on the atoms. In our model for the metallic bond, valence electrons on metallic atoms will be removed from atomic energy levels and placed in crystal energy levels or bands. In this chapter, the band concept is introduced and these new crystal energy levels are described. We begin this chapter with a review of the types of materials that form metallic bonds and a summary of the trends in metallic bond strength.

Materials that are held together by metallic bonds

Figure 8.1 shows a periodic chart in which all of the metallic elements are shaded. The metal–nonmetal definition is the same as that proposed in Chapter 1. Based on this definition, we say that all metallic elements and combinations of metallic elements are bonded metallically.

Phenomenological trends in metallic bonding

The strength of the metallic bond varies with the interatomic separation and the atomic valence. Specifically, the bond strength (as measured by the cohesive energy, Ec, and the melting temperature, Tm) increases as the interatomic separation decreases and as the number of valence electrons increases.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Metallic Bonding
  • Gregory S. Rohrer, Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania
  • Book: Structure and Bonding in Crystalline Materials
  • Online publication: 23 February 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511816116.009
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Metallic Bonding
  • Gregory S. Rohrer, Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania
  • Book: Structure and Bonding in Crystalline Materials
  • Online publication: 23 February 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511816116.009
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Metallic Bonding
  • Gregory S. Rohrer, Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania
  • Book: Structure and Bonding in Crystalline Materials
  • Online publication: 23 February 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511816116.009
Available formats
×