Name: Anthony Goh Kwan Chin Group: ACB2 – AA1 Date: 25th March 2014
Title: Usage of alloy materials in coin production
Introduction:
Going through thousands of years, the manufacturing of coins (minting/coining/coinage) have been one of the most polished product of mankind. One of the earliest recorded standardized coins was made by the Roman Empire, consisting of gold, silver and bronze. Now in the modern age, coins are made with alloys (solids made up of a base metal and other elements), with the exception of bullion coins which are made up of precious metal (Gold, palladium, platinum and silver) and kept as a store of value or an investment, instead of day-to-day use.
Figure 1: Gold Bullion coins of the United States of America
Coins used for day-to-day use are usually subjected to many thermal and physical abuse, for example; coins left in the car under the hot sun and then cooled when the air-conditioning are turned to the maximum or coins accidentally left in clothes that will go through a lot of physical punishment through the washing machine. Thus, coins must be made so that it can withstand thermal and physical abuse as well as a set of criteria.
Coin Composition Criteria
In the modern age, coins are usually made from a base material of copper or nickel, followed by a mixture of brass, iron and chromium. Some coins like the 10 cent and 5 cent of Malaysia’s 3rd series coins are made up of stainless steel, its exact composition not publicized for security reasons.
Figure 2: Malaysia’s 3rd series coins
During the course of choosing the material to make the coins, the material must fulfill all of the following pre-requisite as a minimum;
1) The materials used must be ductile and soft enough to allow design to be i...
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...lled. The stamps will be inspected and any imperfect products will be taken out and melted down.
The stamp used is called the master die which has a negative imprint of the design that will be stamped onto the “Engyo”. It is also important that when the alloys used for the coin must be softer than the master die and hard enough so that the imprints will last. In European countries, the euro coin uses 52-100 steel as the master die, which its exact composition is as follows;
Carbon, C 0.98 - 1.1%
Chromium, Cr 1.3 - 1.6%
Manganese, Mn 0.25 - 0.45%
Phosphorus, P 0.025% max
Silicon, Si 0.15 - 0.35%
Sulphur, S 0.025% max
Iron, Fe Remaining wt.%
Although it is hard enough to allow imprints onto the coin, it wears off after imprinting 100,000 thousand blanks, lower when the alloys are harder, thus several master dies are made to ensure continuous minting process.
The story of the penny starts on 1792 it came with several different coins including the dime, nickel, quarter, and half penny. The pennies were first made out of 100% copper but the price of the copper went up, because of inflation the power of the penny went down. The cause of the mint to reduce the amount of copper in pennies first from 100% to 95% but then to 5% copper and 95% zinc. Despite the debate in 2006 the value of metal on older pennies rose over one. They became more dead than alive so people began to melt and sell.
Yes, numerous amount of people does acknowledge that fact, but the government can also propose that pennies are to use inexpensive metal, like steel, which makes the entire coin industry save money and have the cost of coins to be cheaper to make. Additionally, think about the amount of people that would be fired if the penny industry were to be eliminated. This might the only job that can support their family. Instead of trying to eliminate the pennies which provide a great use for US citizens it is time to ask the government why they would spend hundreds of dollars uselessly for studies, such as a study on why chimpanzees throw their
Back in the 1900’s kids all over would be so grateful to find a penny. Doing so meant they got to run to the local candy store. William Safire, author of “Abolish the Penny” agrees with the notation of abolishing the penny. In Safire's article he makes a strong claim stating that you, “can’t buy anything with a penny any more” (Safire). Expanding on that claim, there is no point in keeping something around that is taking a resource of zinc and copper, when the resource is being wasted to the garbage. Back in the day it would be absurd to throw such a useful coin away. There is no real need for the coin so keeping it around is simply
The bell was cast using a mixture of 80% copper and 20% tin with the addition of one
concealed on a postage stamp or on the glue part of an envelope. The use of
The Lincoln penny has produced excessive amounts that has resulted in outrageous mintage numbering into the billions. While the cent production has surpassed the one billion count in the 1950s, a change has taken place. The Denver Mint had assumed the role as the nation's main source for the Lincoln pennies. The 1952 production of 746,130,000 D-mint cents quadrupled the Philadelphia output. As a result, Denver struck more than one billion Lincolns in the late 1950s.
There were other standards of money in different places. There were different clay tokens. People who were not as wealthy as those who paid in silver paid in less valuable metals like copper, tin, and lead, but mostly barley.
Silver is one of the most valuable precious metals due to its tangible and secure nature. One of the factors why you should purchase silver bullion over others is that the coins are small making them easy to store. In addition, they are cost-effective when considering adding them to investment portfolios. The silver bullion consists of seven types:
These coins were made of electrum, an alloy of gold and silver that was prized very highly. These metals were prized so high due to the abundance in that area. By the 6th century BC, technology had made it much easier to produce highly prized coins. King Croesus introduced the idea of a Bi-metallic standard. (Wikipedia)
It ranks amongst the rarest of metals. Consider this: for every 15 to 20 ounces of gold extracted, only a single ounce of platinum is mined. Unlike gold, which doesn't work well in its purest form, platinum is used in jewelry at 90–95% purity. Gold tarnishing is the slight corrosion of the gold surface and is evident as a dark discoloration of the gold item, also called a tarnish film. Gold alone or pure gold does not combine easily with oxygen so it stays shiny, it does not rust nor tarnish, again, that is pure gold. The magnet test is also a good test to determine if gold is real or fake. If your gold item is attracted to a magnet, it is definitely not real gold. Still, this doesn't mean that there is no gold in your item, just that it is not made with a substantial amount of gold. Gold is most often found in quartz rock. When quartz is found in gold bearings areas, it is possible that gold will be found as well. Quartz may be found as small stones in river beds or in large seams in hillsides. The white color of quartz makes it easy to spot in many
Gold is one metal commonly found in jewelry and other ornate objects. This precious metal with the chemical symbol of Au, from the Greek “Aurum” literally meaning “shining dawn”, has been described as a symbol of wealth or power. Humans in general have had a hunger for this shiny metal. Goldfacts.org’s FAQ section states that 71,147,581 ounces of gold was used for jewelry was used in 2010. It is estimated that the total amount of gold, 5,407,112,558 ounces, in the world would add up to become a cube with edges measuring 19 meters each.
The extraordinary elegance of this unique metal is what makes gold extremely popular to jewelers around the world. Therefore, it is normal to expect that jewelry sectors will have a steady demand for this rare metal in years to come.
The old fashioned jewelry is also sold in the market to raise cash for households who are in need of cash. As the price race of gold continues so is the sale of scrap which jumped to 1,674T last year up from 986 T in 2003. Finally, with easing off the financial crisis in the West and stable value of dollar, and as developed economies come out of recession cage, the price of yellow metal is likely retread to a new level. The gold prices will unlikely ease off, otherwise.
There are some international standards for preparation of goods so every organization must follow those standards in preparation of product. Here in this type of products are tested by the device called DIRECT READING OPTICAL EMISSION SPECTRO METER, by sing this methods alloy castings are tested. If any unethical practice is applied in the process the company sued in the court.
...ections in a car’s body in white (BIW). Sheet steel blanks are inserted into a press, the outer edge of the sheet is clamped and the sheet stamped between a male and a female die. To obtain a deep section requires extra metal, which is pulled from the clamped region; the part is then described as ‘drawn’. Very deep shapes, such as door inners or spare-wheel wells, are ‘deep drawn’ and require the most formable grades of steel. The higher-strength steel used in modern cars requires presses with higher press forces. Press Hardening, also known as die-quenching, is similar to press forming, but in the press-hardening process the steel is first heated to 9500 C and simultaneously pressed and quenched in the die to produce a very strong martensitic steel. Roll forming is a process where sheet metal is progressively folded to shape through a series of rollers.