Aluminium foil Aluminium foil Aluminium foil (or aluminum foil), often referred to with the misnomer tin foil, is aluminium prepared in thin metal leaves with a thickness less than ; thinner gauges down to are also commonly used. In the United States, foils are commonly gauged in thousandths of an inch or mils. Standard household foil is typically thick, and heavy duty household foil is typically . The foil is pliable, and can be readily bent or wrapped around objects. Thin foils are fragile and are sometimes laminated to other materials such as plastics or paper to make them more useful. Aluminium
Cold foil printing spools from an unwind and is nipped to a substrate. Foil sticks to the tacky adhesive on the substrate, and an image with a bright foil surface is created. Foil that does not adhere to the adhesive remains on a thin polyester liner, and waste is directed to a rewind spool. Because the adhesive is applied on press like a conventional ink, no expensive stamping die has to be created. Once printed, the surface of cold foil images may be varnished, laminated, or encapsulated in order to provide a hard-wearing, durable surface. Some printing substrates are unsuitable for cold foil