Aluminium foil
Aluminium foil (or aluminum foil in American English; often informally called tin foil) is aluminium prepared in thin metal leaves. The foil is pliable, and can be readily bent or wrapped around objects. Thin foils are fragile and are sometimes laminated with other materials such as plastics or paper to make them stronger and more useful.
Annual production of aluminium foil was approximately 800,000 tonnes (880,000 tons) in Europe[1] and 600,000 tonnes (660,000 tons) in the U.S.[2] in 2003. Approximately 75% of aluminium foil is used for packaging of foods, cosmetics, and chemical products, and 25% is used for industrial applications (e.g., thermal insulation, electrical cables, and electronics).[2] It can be easily recycled.
Aluminium foil supplanted tin foil in the mid 20th century. In the United Kingdom and United States it is often informally called "tin foil", just as steel cans are often still called "tin cans". Metallised films are sometimes mistaken for aluminium foil, but are actually polymer films coated with a thin layer of aluminium.
History
Precursors
Foil made from a thin leaf of tin was commercially available before its aluminium counterpart. Tin foil was marketed commercially from the late nineteenth into the early twentieth century. The term "tin foil" survives in the English language as a term for the newer aluminium foil. Tin foil is less malleable than aluminium foil and tends to give a slight tin taste to food wrapped in it. Tin foil has been supplanted by aluminium and other materials for wrapping food.[3]
The first audio recordings on phonograph cylinders were made on tin foil.[4]
Invention
Tin was first replaced by aluminium in 1910, when the first aluminium foil rolling plant, Dr. Lauber, Neher & Cie. was opened in Emmishofen, Switzerland. The plant, owned by J.G. Neher & Sons, the aluminium manufacturers, was founded in 1886 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, at the foot of the Rhine Falls, whose energy powered the process. In December 1907, Neher's sons, along with Dr. Lauber, had invented the endless rolling process, by which they discovered that aluminium foil could be used as a protective barrier.[5]
In 1911, Bern-based Tobler began wrapping its chocolate bars in aluminium foil, including the unique triangular chocolate bar, Toblerone.[6]
The first use of foil in the United States was in 1913 for wrapping Life Savers, candy bars, and gum.[7]
Properties
Aluminium foil has a thickness less than 0.2 mm (7.9 mils); thinner gauges down to 6 micrometres (0.24 mils) are also commonly used.[1] Standard household foil is typically 0.016 mm (0.63 mils) thick, and heavy duty household foil is typically 0.024 mm (0.94 mils)
Foil may have a non-stick coating on only one side.[8]
Although aluminium is non-magnetic, it is a good conductor, so even a thin sheet reflects almost all of an incident electric wave. At frequencies more than 100 MHz, the transmitted electric field is attenuated by more than 80 decibels (dB) (less than 10−8 = 0.00000001 of the power gets through).[9]
Thin sheets of aluminium are not very effective at attenuating low-frequency magnetic fields. The shielding effectiveness is dependent upon the skin depth. A field travelling through one skin depth will lose about 63 per cent of its energy (it is attenuated to 1/e = 1/2.718... of its original energy). Thin shields also have internal reflections that reduce the shielding effectiveness.[10]
Manufacture
The continuous casting method is much less energy intensive and has become the preferred process.[11] For thicknesses below 0.025 mm (1 mil), two layers are usually put together for the final pass and afterwards separated which produces foil with one bright side and one matte side. The two sides in contact with each other are matte and the exterior sides become bright; this is done to reduce tearing, increase production rates, control thickness, and get around the need for a smaller diameter roller.[12]
It is difficult to produce rollers with a gap fine enough to cope with the foil gauge. Therefore, for the final pass, two sheets are rolled at the same time, doubling the thickness of the gauge at entry to the rollers. When the sheets are later separated, the inside surface is dull or matte, and the outside surface is shiny. The reflectivity of bright aluminium foil is 88% while dull embossed foil is about 80%.[7] The difference in thermal properties between the two sides is imperceptible without instrumentation. Increased reflectivity decreases both absorption and emission of radiation.[citation needed]
Uses
Aluminium foil is widely sold into the consumer market, often in rolls of 500 mm (20 in) width and several metres in length.[13]
Aluminium foil is also used for barbecuing delicate foods.[14]
As with all metallic items, aluminium foil reacts to being placed in a microwave oven. This is because of the electromagnetic fields of the microwaves inducing electric currents in the foil and high potentials at the sharp points of the foil sheet; if the potential is sufficiently high, it will cause electric arcing to areas with lower potential, even to the air surrounding the sheet. Modern microwave ovens have been designed to prevent damage to the cavity magnetron tube from microwave energy reflection, and aluminium packages designed for microwave heating are available.[15]
Environmental issues
Some aluminium foil products can be recycled at around 5% of the original energy cost.[16]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Facts about aluminium foil". Archived from the original on 2016-03-25. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
- ^ a b "Foil & Packaging". Archived 2007-12-27 at the Wayback Machine. The Aluminum Association (USA).
- ^ Berger, Kenneth R. (December 2002). "A Brief History of Packaging". University of Florida. Archived from the original on 9 September 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
- ^ Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project, UCSB (16 November 2005). "Tinfoil Recordings" (web page). Cylinder Recordings: A Primer. University of California at Santa Barbara. Archived from the original on 16 October 2011. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
- ^ Mary Bellis (2012-04-09). "Charles Martin Hall - The History of Aluminum". Inventors.about.com. Retrieved 2012-12-28.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "History". Archived from the original on 2015-05-12.
- ^ a b Hanlon, J. (1992). 1st ed. Handbook of Package Engineering, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Technomic Publishing: ISBN 0-87762-924-2. Chapter 3 Films and Foils.
- ^ "Frequently Asked Questions" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-21. Retrieved 2014-08-24.
- ^ Ott, Henry (1976), Noise Reduction Techniques in Electronic Systems, Wiley Interscience, ISBN 0-471-65726-3. Ott (1976, figure 6-13) graphs reflection loss for copper, and shows electric field and plane wave losses at greater than 90 dB.
- ^ Ott 1976, pp. 155–156
- ^ Robertson, G. (2006). 2nd ed. Food Packaging, Principles and Practise, Boca Raton, FL, Taylor & Francis Group: ISBN 0-8493-3775-5. Chapter 7 Metal Packaging Materials.
- ^ Degarmo, E. Paul; Black, J T.; Kohser, Ronald A. (2003). Materials and Processes in Manufacturing (9th ed.). Wiley. p. 386. ISBN 0-471-65653-4.
- ^ Examples of products Archived 2008-12-18 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Said, Olivier; MikeC, Chef (2011-11-22). Kitchen on Fire!: Mastering the Art of Cooking in 12 Weeks (or Less). Da Capo Press. ISBN 9780738214535. Archived from the original on 2017-10-22.
- ^ Huss, G. (1997) Microwaveable Packaging and Dual-Ovenable Materials in The Wiley Encyclopedia of Packaging Technology, 2nd ed., edited by Brody, A. and Marsch, K. New York, John Wiley and Sons
- ^ Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate. "Action Plan, page 5, table 2: 4.2 vs. 0.19". Archived from the original on 2009-04-06. Retrieved 2009-04-24.
External links
- European Aluminium Foil Association
- Aluminium Association (USA)
- Aluminium Foil from How Products Are Made, vol. 1, Thomson Gale (2005).
- How It's Made: Aluminium Foil - HowItsMadeEpisodes channel on YouTube.
