World's First Transparent Ceramic Collector Coin
Plochingen/Laurens, SC, 11 October, 2017 The Bank of Latvia looks to the transparent Perlucor material developed by ceramics manufacturer CeramTec for its collector coin, "The Earth". The coin demonstrates with simple elegance the versatility of this transparent technical ceramic, whose uses range from traditional technical applications right through to jewelry, architecture, and design.
The Bank of Latvia has issued the first transparent five-euro collector coin with the name "The Earth" – an innovation which for the first time unites a transparent ceramic with silver in one valuable coin. It is predominantly made of Perlucor, a transparent advanced ceramic from CeramTec. The material, in the shape of a transparent disc, symbolizes the universe, in which the Earth - jewel-like - floats. The design of Latvian architect and designer Mārcis Kalniņš emerged as the winner of a competition organized by the Bank of Latvia (Latvijas Banka) in 2015. The commemorative coin is limited edition with an initial circulation of 5,000.
New Dimensions for Multifaceted Design
Perlucor represents the combination of high-quality, innovative design and robust everyday functionality. With it, manufacturers and designers of watches, glass, lenses, jewelry, coins, smartphones, lighting technology, and other everyday and luxury items can draw on more design possibilities to meet their customers' rising expectations.
The possibilities are next to inexhaustible. Designers of exclusive jewelry use Perlucor for elegant, filigree designs, such as for rings. The transparent ceramic can also be used as protection for watch glasses, the displays of electronic systems all the way to diving computers, and everything in between. With a refractive index of 1.72, Perlucor also enables the miniaturization of optical lenses, for instance. In architecture, its application as a protective laminate is conceivable: the material would lend itself superbly to the realisation of expansive transparent surfaces, such as skywalks and viewing platforms with transparent floors.
Robust, Versatile, Brilliant
Perlucor boasts extraordinary mechanical, chemical, thermal, and optical properties. It is an attractive alternative to conventional glass as well as special and protective glass such as sapphire glass. The transparent ceramic from CeramTec does not only stand out with its exceptional brilliance, but also due to its enormous strength, hardness, and scratch resistance, values which surpass those of glass three- to fourfold. Perlucor is highly transparent, very durable, and able to withstand extreme stress. Due to its purity, the material also features chemical stability, and, resistance to temperatures of over 1,600°C, for these reasons it is also used in high temperature applications. These manyfold properties enable the material to be applied in a versatility of applications
About CeramTec GmbH
CeramTec products are often unseen, but always indispensable. The company, headquartered in Plochingen, Germany, supplies its customers with premiumquality ceramic products from around the globe. The products are used in many different applications today, especially in medical applications, automotive manufacturing, electronics, equipment and mechanical engineering, defense systems, energy and environmental technologies, and in chemical industries. The company’s success is rooted in the formula: Continued development of new, innovative materials with a strong commitment to quality, a focus on customerspecific systems solutions and dialog-based application consulting services that cover the entire product life cycle. CeramTec GmbH is one of the largest international manufacturers of ceramics for technically demanding applications. The company employs 3,200 employees worldwide.
