JOHNSTOWN, Pa., Aug. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC) has been awarded a competitively bid contract by the United States Mint to conduct research and development for more economical alternative metallic materials for the production of all circulating coins.  The award has a contract value of $1.3 million over a two-year period.

"CTC will undertake studies to identify issues with current coinage materials and recommend potential alternative metallic materials for future coins," said Dr. Joseph R. Pickens, CTC Chief Scientist and technical lead for the new contract.  "Our metallurgists will consider a wide range of coinage alloys and fabrication processes and propose their best recommendations to the United States Mint."  Through outreach with key stakeholders, leveraging research from the United States Mint's extensive coinage experience, and application of the alloy development experience of CTC, the contract's objective is to develop cost-effective solutions that minimize issues for stakeholders who use coinage on a daily basis.  

In its recommendations to the United States Mint, CTC will address various factors, such as the effect of new metallic coinage materials on the current suppliers of coinage materials; the acceptability of new metallic materials; costs of metallic material, fabrication, minting, and distribution; metallic material availability and sources of raw metals; coinability; durability; effect on sorting, handling, packaging and vending machines; appearance; risks to the environment or public safety; resistance to counterfeiting; and commercial and public acceptance.  "This is a great opportunity for CTC to implement our materials expertise, currently used to solve Department of Defense problems, in an entirely new area," Dr. Pickens said.

Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC) is an independent, nonprofit, applied scientific research and development professional services organization providing innovative management and technology-based solutions to government and industry.  As a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, CTC's primary purpose and programs are to undertake applied scientific research and development activities that serve the public interest.  For more information, visit www.ctc.com.

SOURCE Concurrent Technologies Corporation

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