Aluminium Foil

Annotations:

• Most often used in cooking, packaging, cosmetics, and insulation. Aluminium foil is aluminium prepared in thin metal leaves, with a thickness less than 0.2 millimetres, thinner gauges down to 6 µm are also commonly used.  Standard household foil is typically 0.016 millimetres thick and heavy duty household foil is typically 0.024 millimetres

1. A very thin, pliable, easily torn sheet of aluminium

1. Ore is mined then refined then smelted then fabricated/rolled

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   • Aluminium foil is produced by rolling aluminium slabs cast from molten aluminium in a rolling mill to the desired thickness. To maintain a constant thickness, a technician monitors the rolling mill sensors to ensure the pressure on the slab is correct. Sensors are able to tell the technician if the pressure is too great or not enough and then the technician can adjust the rollers to apply more or less pressure. It is then coiled and sent to the cold rolling mill.  To avoid breakage because of the thinness, the foil is doubled in the cold rolling mill and the rolled to the desired thickness.

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• Food Preparation: Aluminium foil is “dual-ovenable” and can be used in both convection and fan-assisted ovens. A popular use of foil is to cover thinner sections of poultry and meat to prevent overcooking. The USDA also provides recommendations on limited uses of aluminium foil in microwave ovens. Aluminium foil provides a complete barrier to light, oxygen, moisture and bacteria. For this reason, foil is used extensively in food and pharmaceutical packaging. It is also used to make aseptic packaging that enables storage of perishable goods without refrigeration. Insulation: Aluminium foil is 88 percent reflective and is widely used for thermal insulation, heat exchanges and cable liners. Foil-backed building insulation not only reflects heat,  aluminium sheet also  provides a protective vapor barrier.·         Electronics:  Foil in electrical capacitors provides compact storage for electric charges. If the foil surface is treated, the oxide coating works as an insulator. Aluminium foil capacitors are commonly found in electrical equipment, including television sets and computers. Geo-chemical Sampling: Aluminium foil is used by geo-chemists to protect rock samples. Foil provides a seal from organic solvents and does not taint the samples as they are transported from the field to the lab.  Art and Decoration:Anodizing aluminium foil creates an oxide layer on the aluminium surface that canaccept coloured dyes or metallic salts. Through this technique, aluminum is usedto create inexpensive, brightly colored foils.

1. Food Preparation, Insulation, Electronics, Geo-chemical Sampling, transportation, Art and Decoration

1. It's the 273rd of the 1241 most traded products worldwide

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   •  The global production of aluminium foils was at 4.7 MMT during 2016 and is expected to grow moderately at 5–5.5 percent (CAGR) until 2021 and reach 6.1 MMT Increase in demand from automobile industry and rising consumption of flexible packaging (especially pouches) have bolstered the demand for aluminium foils   
2. Market Drivers
   1. Lightweight packaging , food and beverage, transportation, pharmaceutical, green technology industries, size of Asian market

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      • The packaging industry took the largest share of use in any industry, approx. 41 percent, during 2016, followed by transportation.  These include laminated, embossed, backed with paper, plastics and adhesives. Foil tapes constitute a major part in backed aluminium foils. These are driven by their growing use in electrical and construction purposes giving superior adhesion and extended life      Developed regions are expected to show moderate growth for backed aluminium foil used in industrial purposes, especially from the electricity sector that uses such foils for insulation purposes.    Emerging regions show promise of increased use with growing infrastructure in China and India for example.     
3. Market challenges
   1. Use of plastics, wood, glass, reliable source of raw material, cost of energy

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• A 2011 economics book that attempts to measure the amount of productive knowledge that each country holds, by visualizing the differences among national economies.It goes beyond a mere presentation of standard statistics by making use of “complexity statistics” of 128 countries. The book  is a useful tool for government planners as it gives hints at how difficult and complex it may be for government planners to start a new industry — while showing that there are new industries that will struggle to get started without help.

1. Research and data visualization tool used to study past and future global trade dynamics

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   • The ability to do things is an important base concept. Also known as productive capability, know-how refers to productive knowledge that goes into making products. Countries grow faster by diversifying the productive knowledge they have to make a wider variety of products of increasing complexity. See Video on 'What is Know how on page or at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDvQld51Vqo Articulated in the third video is the idea behind the development of the atlas by the developers  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss7suu-pnx0(in case the ones embedded does not play)
2. In 2016 tin foil (<0.2mm thickness) ranked 4th on the complexity ranking with 2.45 PCI

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   • Based on the HS4 coding system( code 8005) for 2016.  Please note 7607 code is not displayed here. (Product complexity index (PCI) is calculated based on how many other countries can produce the product and the economic complexity of those countries. In effect, PCI captures the amount and sophistication of know-how required to produce a product The most complex products (that only a few, highly complex countries can produce) include sophisticated machinery, electronics and chemicals, as compared to the least complex products (that nearly all countries including the least complex can produce) including raw materials and simple agricultural products. Specialized machinery is said to be complex as it requires a range of know-how in manufacturing, including the coordination of a range of highly skilled individuals’ know-how.Technical breakout: PCI is determined by calculating the average diversity of countries that make a specific product, and the average ubiquity of the other products that these countries make. 

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• A measure of the knowledge in a society as expressed in the products it makes. The economic complexity of a country is calculated based on the diversity of exports a country produces and their ubiquity, or the number of the countries able to produce them (and those countries’ complexity). To account for variation and to ensure fair comparison the team utilise what they refer to as 'revealed compared advantage' - they try to level the playing field so that the comparison can be a fair one. They focus on: -Countries with population greater or equal to 1.25 million -Countries whose traded value is greater or equal than 1 billion -Products whose traded value is greater or equal than 10 million The idea here being to avoid distortions.

1. OF 1241 products, Aluminium Foil is the 273rd most traded product and the 433rd most complex product
2. The Observatory of Economic Complexity a tool to study actual trade of countries

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   • Adam Smith came up with the idea that the division (specialization) of labour is the secret of the wealth of nations. In a modern interpretation, the division of labour into markets and organizations is what allows the knowledge held by few to reach many, making us collectively wiser. The complexity of an economy is related to the multiplicity of useful knowledge embedded in it. Because individuals are limited in what they know, the only way societies can expand their knowledge base is by facilitating the interaction of individuals in increasingly complex networks in order to make products. We can measure economic complexity by the mix of these products that countries are able to make. https://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/resources/methodology/