Crystal Lattice Structures:	Creation Date: 12 Jun 1997
	Last Modified:  4 Sep 2007

The Tungsten Carbide (B_h) Structure

You can now

• see the structure from several perspectives;
• examine the structure with an external viewer; or
• download the coordinates of the atoms in these pictures in XYZ format.
• visualize the structure (Uses the JMOL Applet)

---

• This is related to the hcp lattice in the same way that the L1₁ lattice is related to the fcc lattice. Note, however, that the c/a ratio in WC is about 0.98, while in a typical hcp material it is about 1.63.
• You may also want to compare this unit cell with the NiAs structure.
• 8 June 2002: Note that we've changed from a left-handed to a right-handed coordinate system
• 4 September 2007: The Wyckoff position for the carbon atom is (1f), not (1e) as previously reported. The actual atomic coordinates were always correct.

---

• Prototype: WC
• Pearson Symbol: hP2
• Strukturbericht Designation: B_h
• Space Group: P6m2 (Cartesian and lattice coordinate listings available)
• Number: 187
• Other Compounds with this Structure: AlSn, BIr, MoC, MoP, NbS, WN, TaS, TiS, TeZr
• Primitive Vectors:

  A1	=	½ a X - ½ 3½ a Y
  A2	=	½ a X + ½ 3½ a Y
  A3	=	c Z

• Basis Vectors:

  B1	=		0		(1a)	(W)
  B2	=	2/3 A1 + 1/3 A2 + ½ A3	=	½ a X - 12-½ a Y + ½ c Z	(1f)	(C)

---

Go back to the hexagonal close-packed page.

Go back to Crystal Lattice Structure page.

Structures indexed by: Strukturbericht Symbol Pearson Symbol Space Group Prototype

This is a mirror of an old page created at the Naval Research Laboratory Center for Computational Materials Science The maintained successor is hosted at http://www.aflowlib.org/CrystalDatabase/ and published as M. Mehl et al., Comput. Mater. Sci. 136 (Supp.), S1-S828 (2017).