Cubic cylinder packings

Abstract

Five basic cubic packings of symmetry-related cylinders are described. Four are stable packings and two were described by O'Keeffe & Andersson [Acta Cryst. (1977). A33, 914–923]. The possible symmetries of rods that can replace the cylinders in crystal structures are identified. Replacing cylinders by bundles of cylinders produces a total of 23 cubic cylinder packings, of which 18 are stable.