Aluminum Foil

The Bayer process used to refine bauxite comprises four steps: digestion, clarification, precipitation, and calcination. During the digestion stage, the bauxite is ground and mixed with sodium hydroxide before being pumped into large, pressurized tanks. In these tanks, called digesters, the combination of sodium hydroxide, heat, and pressure breaks the ore down into a saturated solution of sodium aluminate and insoluble contaminants, which settle to the bottom.

The next phase of the process, clarification, entails sending the solution and the contaminants through a set of tanks and presses. During this stage, cloth filters trap the contaminants, which are then disposed of. After being filtered once again, the remaining solution is transported to a cooling tower.

In the next stage, precipitation, the aluminum oxide solution moves into a large silo, where, in an adaptation of the Deville method, the fluid is seeded with crystals of hydrated aluminum to promote the formation of aluminum particles. As the seed crystals attract other crystals in the solution, large clumps of aluminum hydrate begin to form. These are first filtered out and then rinsed.

Calcination, the final step in the Bayer refinement process, entails exposing the aluminum hydrate to high temperatures. This extreme heat dehydrates the material, leaving a residue of fine white powder: aluminum oxide.

Smelting, which separates the aluminum-oxygen compound (alumina) produced by the Bayer process, is the next step in extracting pure, metallic aluminum from bauxite. Although the procedure currently used derives from the electrolytic method invented contemporaneously by Charles Hall and Paul-Louis-Toussaint Héroult in the late nineteenth century, it has been modernized. First, the alumina is dissolved in a smelting cell, a deep steel mold lined with carbon and filled with a heated liquid conductor that consists mainly of the aluminum compound cryolite.

Next, an electric current is run through the cryolite, causing a crust to form over the top of the alumina melt. When additional alumina is periodically stirred into the mixture, this crust is broken and stirred in as well. As the alumina dissolves, it electrolytically decomposes to produce a layer of pure, molten aluminum on the bottom of the smelting cell. The oxygen merges with the carbon used to line the cell and escapes in the form of carbon dioxide.

Still in molten form, the purified aluminum is drawn from the smelting cells, transferred into crucibles, and emptied into furnaces. At this stage, other elements can be added to produce aluminum alloys with characteristics appropriate to the end product, though foil is generally made from 99.8 or 99.9 percent pure aluminum. The liquid is then poured into direct chill casting devices, where it cools into large slabs called "ingots" or "reroll stock." After being annealed—heat treated to improve workability—the ingots are suitable for rolling into foil.

After the foil stock is made, it must be reduced in thickness to make the foil. This is accomplished in a rolling mill, where the material is passed several times through metal rolls called work rolls. As the sheets (or webs) of aluminum pass through the rolls, they are squeezed thinner and extruded through the gap between the rolls. The work rolls are paired with heavier rolls called backup rolls, which apply pressure to help maintain the stability of the work rolls. This helps to hold the product dimensions within tolerances. The work and backup rolls rotate in opposite directions. Lubricants are added to facilitate the rolling process. During this rolling process, the aluminum occasionally must be annealed (heat-treated) to maintain its workability.

As the foil sheets come through the rollers, they are trimmed and slitted with circular or razor-like knives installed on the roll mill. Trimming refers to the edges of the foil, while slitting involves cutting the foil into several sheets. These steps are used to produce narrow coiled widths, to trim the edges of coated or laminated stock, and to produce rectangular pieces. For certain fabricating and converting operations, webs that have been broken during rolling must be joined back together, or spliced. Common types of splices for joining webs of plain foil and/or backed foil include ultrasonic, heat-sealing tape, pressure-sealing tape, and electric welded. The ultrasonic splice uses a solid-state weld—made with an ultrasonic transducer—in the overlapped metal.

For many applications, foil is used in I V / combination with other materials. It can be coated with a wide range of materials, such as polymers and resins, for decorative, protective, or heat-sealing purposes. It can be laminated to papers, paperboards, and plastic films. It can also be cut, formed into any shape, printed, embossed, slit into strips, sheeted, etched, and anodized. Once the foil is in its final state, it is packaged accordingly and shipped to the customer.

In addition to in-process control of such parameters as temperature and time, the finished foil product must meet certain requirements. For instance, different converting processes and end uses have been found to require varying degrees of dryness on the foil surface for satisfactory performance. A wettability test is used to determine the dryness. In this test, different solutions of ethyl alcohol in distilled water, in increments of ten percent by volume, are poured in a uniform stream onto the foil surface. If no drops form, the wettability is zero. The process is continued until it is determined what minimum percent of alcohol solution will completely wet the foil surface.