Materials (Nov 2020)

High-Accuracy 3D Optical Profilometry for Analysis of Surface Condition of Modern Circulated Coins

  • Wojciech Kapłonek,
  • Tadeusz Mikolajczyk,
  • Danil Yurievich Pimenov,
  • Munish Kumar Gupta,
  • Mozammel Mia,
  • Shubham Sharma,
  • Karali Patra,
  • Marzena Sutowska

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13235371
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 23
p. 5371

Abstract

Read online

The article shows that noncontact measurement techniques can be an important support to X-ray-based methods when examining the surface condition of modern circulated coins. The forms and degrees of wear of such coins, affecting their utility values, qualifying them as a legal tender in a given country, can be measured and analyzed, among other things, using advanced high-accuracy optical profilometry methods. The authors presented four analyses carried out for reverses and obverses of round coins (1 zloty, 1 franc, 50 bani, 5 pens) characterized by different degrees of surface wear. All of the coins were measured using 3D optical profilometers (Talysurf CLI 2000 and S neox) representing two generations of these types of systems. The obtained results confirm the validity of the applied high-accuracy measurement systems in conjunction with dedicated software in the presented applications. Examples of the analyses carried out can be a significant source of information on the condition of coins in the context of maintaining their functional properties (selection of appropriate wear–resistant alloys and correctness of the production process).

Keywords