Thickness of Aluminum Foil: 9 Ways to Use Aluminum Foil

Aluminum foil, sometimes called tin foil, is a thin sheet of metal foil or metal leaf made of aluminum alloy that you can easily bend or tear. Foil is most commonly used to package, insulate, or protect food. Manufacturers produce foil using a rolling process involving pressing aluminum ingots through a rolling mill to create a thin aluminum sheet.

While each side of aluminum foil sheets may look different—one side is dull while the other is shiny—you can use them interchangeably. Aluminum is also a recyclable material.

Regular aluminum foil, also called standard household or standard duty foil, will typically be around 0.63 mils thick. Some thicker aluminum foils or extra heavy-duty household foils can be up to 0.94 mils thick.

Manufacturers measure the thickness of foil, or the width of the foil, using a micrometer which measures the width to one-thousandth of an inch, represented as mils.

While some may interchangeably use the terms “tin foil” and “aluminum foil,” they didn’t always refer to the same product. In the nineteenth century, producers made aluminum foil out of actual tin metal since it was a soft metal similar to aluminum. This thin foil fell out of use around World War II.

Aluminum foil became more popular during the twentieth century since aluminum was easier to acquire and more durable than tin.

These DIY solutions and hacks for common household problems may help make your life easier with just a few strips of aluminum foil:

1. 1. Baking pie: Covering a pie with aluminum foil while it bakes in the oven can help prevent the pie crust from burning by distributing heat evenly around the dessert.
2. 2. Improvising a frying pan: If you are camping in the woods and don’t have a frying pan handy, you can create one out of a sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Wrap the sheet of foil around a forked branch, and place your pan over a fire.
3. 3. Insulating and storing food: Use aluminum foil as you would plastic wrap for food packaging or food storage. Aluminum foil can also insulate food to keep it warm.
4. 4. Ironing: Place a sheet of aluminum foil underneath the fabric on an ironing board to speed up the ironing process. The aluminum will reflect the heat up into the fabric as you iron.
5. 5. Polishing silverware: Polish or clean up silverware to remove tarnish and oxidation residue by placing a piece of aluminum foil in a pan filled with hot water, salt, and baking soda. Let your silverware soak in the solution overnight.
6. 6. Preventing oven messes: Place a layer of aluminum foil on an oven grate or lower rack of your oven to catch any drips. The foil will prevent burnt food from sticking to your oven. Simply remove and replace the foil when it gets messy.
7. 7. Protecting soap: Tear off a small piece of aluminum foil and place it underneath a bar of soap to prevent the soap from becoming mushy. The silver color of the foil blends in with most stainless-steel sink basins.
8. 8. Reflecting light: Use aluminum foil to reflect light for photography. You can create a light reflector by simply covering a piece of cardboard with aluminum foil. Hang your light reflector on a wall or have an assistant hold it up to your subject’s face.
9. 9. Scrubbing cast iron: Crumple a sheet of aluminum foil into a ball to create a scrubber similar to steel wool. Use your aluminum foil scrubber to remove small pieces of grime or stuck residue on cast-iron pans.

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