المواد الهندسية الجزء الاول

BONDING FORCES AND ENERGIES
An understanding of many of the physical properties of materials is predicated on a knowledge of the interatomic forces that bind the atoms together. Perhaps the principles of atomic bonding are best illustrated by considering the interaction between two isolated atoms as they are brought into close proximity from an infinite separation. At large distances, the interactions are negligible, but as the atoms approach, each exerts forces on the other. These forces are of two types, attractive and repulsive, and the magnitude of each is a function of the separation or interatomic distance. The origin of an attractive force FA depends on the particular type of bonding that exists between the two atoms. The magnitude of the attractive force varies with the distance, as represented schematically in Figure 2.8a. Ultimately, the outer electron shells of the two atoms begin to overlap, and a strong repulsive force FR comes into play. The net force FN between the two atoms is just the sum of both attractive and repulsive components; that is,