Aluminum Foil

Aluminium foil overview

Because of its excellent properties, aluminum foil is widely used in food, beverages, cigarettes, medicines, photographic plates, household daily necessities, etc., and is usually used as its packaging material; electrolytic capacitor material; thermal insulation material for buildings, vehicles, ships, houses, etc.; it can also As decorative gold and silver thread, wallpaper and various stationery prints and decoration trademarks of light industrial products, etc. Among the above-mentioned various uses, the one that can most effectively exert the performance points of aluminum foil is as a packaging material. Aluminum foil is a soft metal film, which not only has the advantages of moisture resistance, air tightness, shading, abrasion resistance, fragrance preservation, non-toxic and tasteless, etc., but also because of its elegant silver-white luster, it is easy to process beautiful patterns and patterns of various colors. pattern, so it is more likely to be favored by people. Especially after the aluminum foil is compounded with plastic and paper, the shielding property of aluminum foil is integrated with the strength of paper and the heat sealing property of plastic, which further improves the shielding properties of water vapor, air, ultraviolet rays and bacteria, which are necessary as packaging materials. , greatly broadening the application market of aluminum foil. Since the packaged items are fully isolated from the outside light, humidity, gas, etc., the packaged items are well protected. Especially for the packaging of cooked food, the use of this composite aluminum foil material can ensure that the food does not deteriorate for at least one year. Moreover, heating and unpacking are very convenient, which is very popular among consumers.
With the improvement of people’s living standards and the development of tourism, the demand for beverages and canned foods such as beer and soda is increasing, which requires modern packaging and decoration to facilitate competition in the international market. In order to meet the market requirements, people have developed packaging materials such as plastic films and sprayed foils with good shielding properties, but their comprehensive properties are not as good as overcoating and lamination can be compensated and improved. Therefore, it can be said that aluminum foil is a perfect packaging material with a variety of excellent properties, and it has fully shown its broad application prospects in many fields.
In order to improve the rolling efficiency and the quality of aluminum foil products, modern aluminum foil rolling mills are developing in four directions: large-roll, wide-width, high-speed, and automation. The width of the roll body of the contemporary aluminum foil rolling mill has reached more than 2200mm, the rolling speed has reached more than 2000m/min, and the coil weight has reached more than 20t. The automation level of the corresponding rolling mill has also been greatly improved, and the thickness control system (AGC) is generally installed, and most of them are installed with a shape meter (AFC). The aluminum foil industry is facing a period of rapid development.

Aluminum foil classification

Sort by thickness

According to the difference in thickness, aluminum foil can be divided into heavy gauge foil, medium gauge foil, light gauge foil and Ultra-thinfoil.
① Heavy gauge aluminum foil: aluminum foil with a thickness of 0.2 to 0.1 mm.
② Medium gauge aluminum foil: aluminum foil with a thickness of 0.1mm to 0.01mm.
③ Light gauge aluminum foil: aluminum foil with a thickness of less than 0.01, that is, aluminum foil with a thickness of 0.005~0.009mm.
④ Ultra-thin aluminum foil: thickness 4.5 microns ~ 9 microns

Classification by usage

① Household aluminum foil: Household aluminum foil refers to the aluminum foil used by the family to make and store foods. It has the advantages of convenient use and safe. It is also widely used in hotels and restaurants.
Household aluminium foil is the aluminum foil product we can see in the daily life, people can buy it in the supermarket and stores nearby. The common specifications for aluminum household foil are as follows. The thickness is 0.012-0.03mm, the width is 300-500mm, the length is 8-50m/roll, wound on a paper core with a certain strength, the alloy is mainly 8011 aluminum alloy with annealed state. With the advantages of light weight and safe, household aluminum foil helps people a lot on backing or warping food.

② Flexible Packaging Aluminum Foil: Foil wrappers are one of the oldest applications of aluminum foil and can be used in chocolate, butter, cheese and tobacco products and other food products. Many of these products are laminated or coated with paper or plastic, respectively, and can be used as sealing or adhesive wrapping papers. They are impermeable to water or nearly impermeable to extend the shelf life of the contents.

③ Semi-rigid container Aluminum Foil: Semi-rigid packaging includes trays and containers made from thin aluminum strips, which are heat and retortable, and are available in a variety of colors. Mainly used for sub-packaging of frozen and ready-to-eat foods as well as jam, honey, milk, sausage products.

④ Aluminium Pharmaceutical Foils: For medical and pharmaceutical sealing and other security sealing applications, we offer heat sealable blister foils for strip packaging of tablets, pills, capsules and more. It ensures that medicines in blister packs are kept safe. Our medicinal aluminum foil rolls are flexible, laminated with film on one side and printed primer on the other, and can be printed or unprinted according to customer requirements.

Sort by shape

Aluminum foil can be divided into roll aluminum foil and sheet aluminum foil according to the shape. Most of the aluminum foil deep-processing wool is supplied in rolls, and sheet aluminum foil is only used in a few handicraft packaging occasions.

Classification by heat treatment state

① Hard aluminum foil: The aluminum foil that has not been softened (annealed) after rolling, without degreasing treatment, has residues on the surface. Therefore, the hard foil must be degreased before printing, lamination, and coating, and it can be used directly if it is used for forming.
② Semi-hard aluminum foil: aluminum foil whose hardness (or strength) is between hard foil and soft foil, usually used for forming.
③ Soft aluminum foil: The aluminum foil that has been fully annealed and softened after rolling has a soft material and no residual oil on the surface. Most applications, such as packaging, lamination, electrical materials, etc., use flexible foils.

Classification by surface state

Aluminum foil can be divided into one-sided smooth aluminum foil and two-sided smooth aluminum foil according to the surface state.
① Single-sided smooth aluminum foil: double-rolled aluminum foil, one side is bright after sub-rolling, and the other side is black, such aluminum foil is called one-sided smooth aluminum foil. The thickness of one side light aluminum foil is usually not more than 0.025mm.
② Double-sided smooth aluminum foil: single rolled aluminum foil, both sides are in contact with the roll, and the two sides of the aluminum foil are divided into mirror two-sided smooth aluminum foil and ordinary two-sided smooth aluminum foil due to the different surface roughness of the roll. The thickness of the two-sided glossy aluminum foil is generally not less than 0.01mm.

Classification according to processing status

According to the processing state, aluminum foil can be divided into plain aluminum foil, embossed aluminum foil, composite aluminum foil, coated aluminum foil, colored aluminum foil and printed aluminum foil.
① Plain aluminum foil: aluminum foil without any other processing after rolling, also known as blank surface aluminum foil.
② Embossed aluminum foil: aluminum foil with various patterns pressed on the surface.
③ Composite aluminum foil: composite aluminum foil formed by laminating aluminum foil and paper, plastic film and cardboard together.
④ Coated aluminum foil: aluminum foil coated with various resins or paints on the surface.
⑤ Colored aluminum foil: The surface is coated with aluminum foil of a single color.
⑥ Printed aluminum foil: By printing the aluminum foil with various patterns, patterns, characters or pictures on the surface, it can be one color, up to 12 colors.