Allotropy of Beryllium

The allotropy of beryllium has been confirmed by employing different alloying properties of allotropic forms of metallic elements. Alloys of beryllium and gold, studied by x-ray diffraction methods, showed that the limit of solubility of gold in beryllium is between two and three atomic percent, and practically all of it is dissolved in the β-form. The lattice parameters of the two forms observed here are: a0=2.286A, C0=3.588A, and C0/a0=1.570 for the α-form, and a0=6.93A, C0=11.35A, and C0/a0=1.638 for the β-form. The volume of the unit cell of the β-form is about 29 times that of the α-form.