Name: Anthony Goh Kwan Chin Group: ACB2 – AA1 Date: 25 March 2014 Title: Using Alloy Materials in Coin Production Introduction: Over the course of thousands of For years, the production of coins (coinage/mintage/coin) has been one of humanity's finest products. One of the first recorded standardized coins was made by the Roman Empire, composed of gold, silver and bronze. In the modern era, coins are made from alloys (solids made of a base metal and other elements), with the exception of investment coins which are made of precious metals (gold, palladium, platinum, and silver) and kept as a store of value or an investment, instead of everyday use.Figure 1: United States of America Gold CoinsCoins used for everyday use are usually subjected to a lot of thermal and physical abuse, for example; coins left in the car in the hot sun and then cooled when the air conditioning is on high or coins accidentally left in clothes that will take a lot of physical punishment through the washing machine. Therefore, coins must be made to withstand thermal and physical abuse, as well as a number 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 such as the 10 cent and 5 cent coins from the third series of Malaysia are made of stainless steel, the exact composition of which is not made public for security reasons. Figure 2: Third Series Coins of MalaysiaWhen choosing the material to make the coins, the material must meet all the following prerequisites as a minimum; 1) The materials used must be sufficiently ductile and soft to allow the design to be filled... in the center of the paper. Stamps will be inspected and any imperfect products will be removed and melted. The stamp used is called the master die which has a negative impression of the design that will be printed on the “Engyo”. It is also important that the alloys used for the coin are softer than the main die and hard enough so that the impressions last. In European countries, the euro coin uses 52-100 steel as the main matrix, the exact composition of which 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 % maxSilicon, Si 0.15 - 0.35%Sulphur, S 0.025% maxIron, Fe Remaining weight%Although it is hard enough to allow imprints on the coin, it wears out after having impressed 100,000 thousand blanks, less when the alloys are harder, therefore the main molds are made to ensure a continuous minting process.