Aluminium wire used for metallizing

The question was as follows.

Hi, I just want to know the type and specification of aluminium used in Flexible Packaging? Is there any book I can read in order to find it out?

Answer.

Aluminium wire used for evaporation has usually got two separate specifications, one for purity and the second for the state of temper.

Typically the aluminium purity is 99% pure or better.  The code used for specifying aluminium is usually 4 digits long.  The first generally is a ‘1’ & specifies the 99% purity, the second digit is used where there is specific control of one particular impurity and the final two digits are the same as the two digits to the right of the decimal point indicating the minimum aluminium content.

i.e.   1199  would indicate a 99.99% purity aluminium wire, see Table below

            The wire can be supplied in different states of hardness. If the wire is fully annealed or soft tempered it is graded ’O’ & if it is fully hardened by strain hardening to 75% it is graded H18. In between these two extremes are quarter hard H12, half hard H14 & three quarters hard H16.  The temper determines how easily the wire can be bent from the drum of wire round to the boat.  As the wire approaches the boat it will be heated & may sag & so some temper may be advantageous particularly if the distance between guide and boat is large.

Alloy/Impurity		1100		1350		1188		1199
Silicon (Si)		0.95 Si+Fe		0.1		0.06		0.006
Iron (Fe)				0.4		0.06		0.006
Copper (Cu)		0.05-0.20		0.05		0.005		0.006
Manganese (Mn)		0.05		0.01		0.01		0.002
Magnesium (Mg)						0.01		0.006
Chromium (Cr)				0.01
Zinc (Zn)		0.10		0.05		0.02		0.006
Titanium (Ti)						0.01		0.002
Others		0.15		0.1		0.01		0.003
Aluminum (Al)		99.00		99.5		99.88		99.99

Alloy 1100 = 1st Digit means minimum 99% Aluminium

                    = 2nd Digit refers to any special contant control

                    = 3rd & 4th Digits refer to the % purity after the decimal point.

Wire Temper
Designation
O		Soft temper - Annealed after working to final dimension
H12		Strain hardened to a point 1/4 tensile strength between 'O' & H18
H14		Strain hardened to a point 1/2 tensile strength between 'O' & H18
H16		Strain hardened to a point 3/4 tensile strength between 'O' & H18
H18		Hard temper - full hard - strain hardening ~ 75%

It is worth noting that other metals and alloys can also be obtained in wire form and deposited in the same way. In particular there is an alloy that is used for golden coloured metallization from the same intermetallic boats.

The table shown is typical of what is available, however the different aluminium wire suppliers may have slightly different designations or present the information slightly differently. Any of the wire suppliers should be able to provide you with similar information.

Comments

[JOHN DESEAN]

Kindly, explained to me of what benefit or relevant of the metalizer, coaster and laminator, it of benefit to contactor company and it,s relevant.
This is very important,hope to received full reply onthe enquiry.

[Stéphane Brochu]

What is the industrial use of high purity aluminium?
In what indstry can we find the highest output for A5N aluminium(99.9997% purity)? Thank you for your answer.

[Shivendra Tripathi]

Does a difference in aluminium wire purity affect the metallisation characteristics? If yes then how? What elements in the list of metals lowers the characteristics?

Thanx

[alloy qc]

Hi,
I think most of them will use Aluminum wire for metallizing.This is a substitute for painting structural steel that protects steel for decades longer than paint alone.

[x-ray fluorescence]

Hi,
Today Aluminium wire used for evaporation has usually got two separate specifications, one for purity and the second for the state of temper.