Polycrystal

Structure

The orientation of crystallites can be random with no preferred direction, called random texture, or directed, possibly due to growth and processing conditions. While the structure of a single crystal is highly ordered and its lattice is continuous and unbroken, amorphous materials, such as glass and many polymers, are non-crystalline and do not display any structures, as their constituents are not arranged in an ordered manner. Polycrystalline structures and paracrystalline phases are in between these two extremes. Polycrystalline materials, or polycrystals, are solids that are composed of many crystallites of varying size and orientation. Most materials are polycrystalline, made of a large number crystallites held together by thin layers of amorphous solid. Most inorganic solids are polycrystalline, including all common metals, many ceramics, rocks, and ice. A related term oligocrystalline material is a microstructure consisting of a few coarse grains, often columnar and parallel to the longitudinal ingot axis. This microstructure can be found in the ingots produced by electron beam melting.