Correlation between growth of high-index faces, relative growth rates and crystallographic structure of crystal

Abstract

According to contemporary crystal growth theories, crystals are bound by low-index faces which are the most slowly growing. However, high-index faces are observed in crystal habits more and more often. In this paper the growth of high-index faces is analysed from a crystallographic perspective. It is shown that the crystallographic structure of a given crystal, expressed by the trigonometric function of appropriate interfacial angles, influences to great degree the crystallisation process and the morphology of crystals, in particular the behaviour of high-index faces. Additionally, it is concluded that at particular crystallographic structure of a crystal, a given high-index face may exist in the habit and develop its size, although it grows much faster than the neighbouring faces.