Sustainable Approach to Metal Coin Canceling Methods, Using 3D Modeling and Finite Element Method Analysis

Abstract

Over time, many minted coins were withdrawn from circulation, being replaced with new ones. The returned, obsolete metal coins were melted in order to ensure sustainable reuse of the alloy for other purposes. Between the withdrawal and melting, some of the metal coins were canceled by the destruction of their original shape and dimensions using adequate tools. The first part of this paper is focused on presenting some insights into the canceling method used on old Romanian nickel coins; also, some examples are presented. The introduction also includes a literature review in the field of coin manufacturing, covering subjects such as metal behavior under striking load and aspects of 3D modeling and FEM analysis as well as explaining some striking errors. The main purpose of this paper is to study the particularities of canceling methods applied to coins, which is conducted on relatively valuable collection metal pieces. In the second part of the paper, an adequate 3D model is computed for the canceling dies and the coin. Then, the assembled models are introduced, corresponding to each canceling case, consisting of the obverse and reverse canceling dies with coins inside them. For each model, the finite element analysis is realized and is achieved for different initial conditions. The final part of the paper presents the analysis results as well as the discussion and conclusions.