Wrinkling of Foils

Presented by Timothy J. Walker, TJWalker+Associates, Inc. Kevin A. Cole, Optimation Technology Inc.

Aluminum and copper metal webs less than 150 microns thick (6-mils) are considered foils. In many products, thinner foils have cost or weight advantages, but as with nearly any web, thinner means an increased sensitivity to wrinkling in web handling processes.

Many converters have extensive experience with films and papers, but fear handling foil. This presentation will show experimental results comparing when foil wrinkle vs. papers and films and discuss some of the key points to successful foil handling, especially how foils differ from papers and films.