Validating minting ages of coins

XRD can be used to validate minting ages of coins. A 2005 US penny has a zinc metal core and a combination Cu/Nickel alloy coating. Before 1986, the US pennies were comprised entirely of a copper and zinc alloy. When looking at the diffraction patterns from a MiniFlex II in the figures it can be seen that no zinc core was discovered in the 1985 penny.

Tags: MiniFlex II, Rietveld, pennies, zinc, copper, nickel, alloy