A term describing a non-crystalline phase where the constituent components (i.e., atoms, ions, molecules) are without long-range order, i.e., not related by translation periodicity. There are many variations of such order or lack of order, for example, glasses commonly occur where atoms are arranged as coordination groups of tetrahedra (e.g., four oxygen ions in coordination about a silicon ion). Such tetrahedra share vertices to define local structure similar to that of crystalline phases; however, such groups of atoms are not related by long-range translation periodicity. This type of short-range order is much different than a simple random positioning of atoms. Amorphous character can be described by the nature of the analysis, e.g., such that the material may produce an X-ray diffraction pattern without discrete maxima, hence, “X-ray amorphous”.
Cf., non-crystalline, crystalline