What is it?
Aluminium Foil is a thin, flexible leaf or sheet of metal that has been flattened many times by huge rollers.
tin foil was the first thing people used, Tin foil is much stiffer than aluminium foil and it leaves a slightly
metallic taste to food that has been wrapped in the foil.
The first use of aluminium foil was for wrapping food products . Processes
evolved over time to include the use of print, colour, lacquer, laminate and the embossing of the
aluminium.
Aluminium foil is made up of aluminium alloy, which has about 92 – 99 percent of aluminium in it. It is a sheet of aluminium that is paper thin and tears easily, its thickness is about 0.00017mm to about 0,0059mm thin. It is usually used to wrap around food to keep heat in but can also be used in many other things. It is non-toxic and greaseproof which means it has good non-magnetic shielding and can resist chemical attacks. Aluminium foil is impermeable to water and vapour gases. Aluminium is the third most abundant element on earth. Since it was so hard to get Aluminium from ore, people in the 19th century considered it rarer than silver or gold.
Some of its specialities are its non-toxicity, strength and durability. The process to make foil is getting pure aluminium from bauxite. First, the ore is removed to get rid of things such as iron oxide, titania, silica and water. Then the aluminium oxide is smelted to produce pure aluminium. When the process is over the aluminium is then rolled to produce foil.
Now days aluminium foil is widely used across the world and its uses will only continue to grow. The
increase in popularity of microwave ovens has resulted in the development of several forms of
aluminum-based semi-rigid containers designed specifically for these ovens.
However, even aluminum foil is being questioned about its environmental friendliness. Manufacturers are
increasing their efforts in the recycling area. Foil manufacturers have begun recycling programs
even though aluminum foil's total un receyled waste levels are lower than the aluminium can that are
easier to recylce. Aluminum foil already has the advantage of being light and small, which helps reduce its
contribution to the solid waste at dumps.